I think realistically the plan was to never actually do anything direct in the first place, just ensure a status quo of localized MAD where neither side can actually risk attacking the other because it’s lose-lose, posture and threaten in order to bully concessions out of Iran while letting the color revolution machine churn along and maybe accomplish something someday, and station some token defenses around the area to stop small scale skirmishes from hitting anything too important.

It wasn’t until Israel exploded in a pent up frenzy of aimlessly, frantic violence for the simple purpose of spreading horror and death that a hot war became a possibility, and the Trump regime is too bumbling and incompetent to contain the situation.