Hillary Clinton said this in retrospect about the 2009 Iran protests:
On Iran, she added that one of her biggest regrets as secretary of state is not speaking out more strongly in favor of protests that erupted after the contested 2009 presidential election there. “We tried to do what we could beneath the radar screen to help the demonstrators,” she said, mentioning “covert” actions, but said she wished she had been more public.
Trump is not going to make the same mistake:
Big protests in Iran. The people are finally getting wise as to how their money and wealth is being stolen and squandered on terrorism. Looks like they will not take it any longer. The USA is watching very closely for human rights violations!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 31, 2017
This makes it seem all the more ill-advised to have let up the economic pressure on Iran for a misbegotten nuclear deal.