Memes

I understand the concept of tit for tat retaliation, the problem is American foreign policy for these instances is tit for tat tat. America makes sure its retaliatory responses are overwhelming making a tit for tat deterrence useless against them, this is the advantage of having the largest stick in the world. This is also why America's rivals engage in asymmetric warfare with layers of plausible deniability.

This also assumes Iran is dealing with a rational actor acting logically, there is no evidence Trump is one in this case. This strike has no logical beneficial outcome for the American people, it will be interesting to see if Congress allows America to continue. Trumps reasons for doing Netenyahus bidding to the detriment of the American people is certainly a choice that we can all speculate on.

I disagree with your comparing Iran Vs US to the Brits Vs the Zulu's. It is almost as if you have slept through the last 110 years of insurgency warfare and how effective it can be. Iran is a huge country with a population of 90 million. The USA can bomb with impunity sure but Iran has more people than Afghanistan and Iraq combined with greater military capabilities. Boots on the ground will be needed, you can't win a war with stand off munitions alone. America was entirely unsuccessful with their previous two attempts at regime change by force this century, why would they do better against a bigger and better armed country? Look at the bunch of clowns in charge in America currently, I would not trust them to mind my plants for a week away let alone regime change in Iran.