If the long history of military conflict teaches us anything, it’s that wars, like marriages, are easier to get into than out. War with Iran would be no exception.

On paper, it would hardly be a contest. “It won’t be a fair fight,” promised Gen. Frank McKenzie this month as tensions flared and the U.S. dispatched warships and bombers in response to unspecified threats from Iran to U.S. interests in the Persian Gulf region.