Third, Tehran has already rejected Trump’s offer for meeting as it knows this is the first step to Iran’s change of behavior. This is the time for Trump to stand with oppositionists and build a stronger relationship with them. Iranians need help to finish the job, which includes escalating, expanding and continuous protests that demand a free Iran.

Raymond Tanter served as a senior member on the Middle East Desk of the National Security Council staff in the Reagan-Bush administration, personal representative of the secretary of Defense to international security and arms control talks in Europe, and is now professor emeritus at the University of Michigan. Follow him on Twitter ​@ProfRTanter.