Here is an interesting discussion on what is going on in Iran. According to Pape the US has gotten itself into the 'smart bomb trap'. With smart bombs that allow one side to snipe the enemy leadership comes the believe to be in control of the battlefield and therefore the war. While smart bombs enable the US to achieve stunning tactical successes, they don't secure any of the strategic goals. In the case of Iran, the most pressing strategic goal is to take Irans cache of enriched uranium.
The second point Pape makes is that the bombardment of Fordo with smart weapons last year worsened the strategic problem of the US in that now the enriched uranium is dispersed in smaller portions across Iran and can not be neutralized with an air campaign. Thus the ease of achieving tactical successes via smart bombs made US planners fall for the believe that these local successes would translate into fulfilling the strategic goal.
Now the US has committed to a path that forces them to continue escalating, because the only chance to secure Irans uranium is by eventually committing ground troops. Worse, now that the uranium is likely dispersed across all of Iran, the matter won't be done with a raid by commando units.
Pape further explains that if the regime falls or Iran becomes a Lybia-tier failed state, that means that you have hundreds of kilograms of bomb making capable nuclear material spread out across the country and however many factions. An even worse strategic risk for the US.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=RFIJuoDQ7w0
Seems pretty logical to me. Happy fun times ahead if this theory proves true!