“We’ll kill thousands of children and be marked by the world, rightly or wrongly, as barbarians. Surely there must be another way to do this short of total destruction.”
Your mindset is exactly what iran is hoping for.
They cant protect every bridge and power plant in the country......all we have to do is pivot and hit where they aren’t.
Trump wants to gain control of oil flow choke points. If you control the oil, you control the money. If you control the money, you control the IRGC and the Basij.