The British Empire at its peak had an effective technique against aggressive enemies: a non-linear response.
That is, if you directly fight back against an attack, then enemy will be ready for you and it may cost you dearly. But if you “hit ‘em where they ain’t”, you can inflict expensive harm on them where they are not prepared.
This being said, Iran has some impressive vulnerabilities not obvious to most people. Dams.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_dams_and_reservoirs_in_Iran
Iran is very reliant on dams, both for electrical power and for water, which is a weak point for them.
If you’ve seen the classic movie “The Dam Busters” (1955), while the technology has certainly changed, dams remain a “hard target”. Typically very thick on the bottom, tapering upward, they need to be attacked high enough to penetrate, but low enough so that the water behind them will tear the rest apart.
On the plus side, dams often appear in a chain on a single river, so that if one higher up bursts, it might tear down one or more of the lower dams as well.
Bunker busters.
So we attack the dams. Think they’ll sit back and say “aw shucks”?
The entire gulf will be in flames in a matter of days if not hours.
The world economy will tank. Russia and China will not sit idly by. WW 3.