> would be a significant escalation that threatens to spark an all-out war in the Middle East that the Biden administration has desperately tried to avoid.
Did they, though? Because every single action the US has taken in the last ~year seems to have been leading to this exact outcome.
You would have to do a very bad faith reading of the news over the last year to imply the current administration has been trying to increase tension between Iran and Israel.
I am not sure what you are implying - the US parking warships nearby seems like a strong deterrent. It didn't work this time, but it didn't mean it's a bad idea.
You use deterrence to prevent a bigger conflict. It's on Israel and its leadership (Bibi) that they used the lull between their increasingly brazen attacks against their opponents as an excuse to launch a full scale invasion of a neighbouring country.
That's half of their top 6, actually.