I might oversee something but, I guess the fix for the code is as simple as that:
Just add the highlighted check.
The issue is, when the widget is loaded, it will check for the start boolean (and starts the loop, if true) AND checks the iteration (and starts the loop, if not undefined or null).
So if the start boolean is true and the iteration is 0, both will trigger the start of the loop.
When adding the iteration beeing >0 this should only trigger the start once.