soft target, good publicity

It was a matter of time before Iran figured out actual annoyances to the US. Blowing up oil and gas facilities hurts the US the least. In fact energy disruption for the EU and China and weakening of the Gulf monarchies (which had pesky BRICS ambitions in the past) may be exactly what the US wants.

For maximum annoyance Iran should let through EU and Chinese tankers but block US and Israeli tankers. This would infuriate Trump to no end.

Related:

Iran says it will target US tech companies in Middle East

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47591208

Iran's attacks on Amazon data centers in UAE, Bahrain signal a new kind of war

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47317587

Operational issue – Multiple services (UAE)

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47209781