The United States doesn't get to decide how things play out now - we just get to hope Iran does nothing. Because Iran could shut down the Strait of Hormuz, and they are better equipped and better trained than the Houthi. They could launch a bunch of missiles and drones at American bases across the Gulf, bases that do not have Israel's Iron Dome, and we better hope our AD folks are ready and have everything they need at all of those bases. We have American forces in a lot of bases around the Persian Gulf, and in many cases, it would be easy for the Iranian intelligence to have eyes on them, given their locations.
Speaking of autonomous warfare, they could flood the Gulf with drones - regardless of how much Ukraine has been supplied with decent Western air defenses, Russia is still overwhelming/getting through them, and there's a fuckton of ships that pass through the Strait that don't have much more than AK's or PKMs to ward off pirates.
And you can say "well not if the US Navy has anything to say about it" and yeah, what happens when the US Navy is operating in extremely close quarters in the area of the Strait, with lots of Iranian drones/missiles within range? We have the best fucking navy in the world and second place is not even close, but what happens when we get the 2025 version of the HMS Sheffield sunk or a USS Cole with a hole blown in the side? You think Trump can back down from that? Hell no, he will only escalate things, and boots on the ground would not be out of the question.
And if you're Iran, you've probably already moved the good stuff out of Fordow and the other locations, to locations that have never seen an international inspection. I wouldn't be surprised if we bombed empty locations.
And the Iranian leadership will have to respond - any major sign of weakness and the population could easily pop off.
It may not be Pandor's Box, but we have no idea how this is going to play out, or how many Americans will end up dead or where our military involvement will stop.
If Trump conveyed to the Iranians that this was a limited strike, that was an extremely dumbfuck thing to do, because you never tell your enemies where you plan on stopping. The Iranians could strike back at US forces and dare Trump to ramp things up knowing his base would not be pleased.