Red Player's choices
The NYTimes is doing the nothing-between-ear-and-mouth for the DoD, which has to find or fake Iranian weapons somewhere in Iraq. A defective manpack SAM. An RPG. An 81mm morter round. But the real fish in the drift net is a shaped charge no more sophisticated than what Charlie and Rose put together to sink the Empress Luisa, with a VW hub cap -- the lens of the shaped charge (see Algebra of Armorers) -- replacing the gun cartidges and nails of Charlie's contact detonator.
The core of the DoD/NYTimes narrative is that Red Player and Blue Player "signal" each other. Blue bangs a mullah and Red bangs an up-armored Humvee. To believe this narrative you have to believe that munitions are rationed out of stockpile(s) in Iran in dribs and drabs, or that some larger flow is diverted elsewhere or vaporized without leaving a trace by undisclosed interdiction forces, and the munitions are immediately deployed, effecting tit-for-tat feedback, OR that some disciplined quartermasters manage undisclosed munitions stockpile(s) in Iraq, and their inventories of munitions are drawn-down a unit at a time, to the same effect.
If a large inventory was available to Red Player operational group commanders, why would Red Player passively reciprocate, leaving Blue Player the initiative of time and manouver?
But this elides the real question. You're Red Player. You've all the assets of the Iranian state, including its ability to acquire, and move weapons almost anywere in West Asia, including high-value weapons anywhere in the world. You are as Condi Rice would create you. What are your targets? Why are those your targets? What are your tactical and strategic goals?
In my ignorant opinion, raising the logistical cost of short-haul air-transport, and keeping convoyed ground-transport to locally prohibitive, and non-convoyed ground-transport theater-wide prohibitive are the Red Player fundamentals, whether the Red Player operates out of Occupied Iraq, or an adjacent state, and I've been waiting for Blue Player's freedom of movement ceiling to be moved "up", link.
Still, the NYT is shopping someone's weird narrative, like, if the Martians occupied Brooklyn, the Dodgers would only pitch one taxi cab full of explosives every few days at the Martian street patrols, to conserve taxis.