[dataflow]

>> They were provoked by the U.S. president, who promised support to take on the institutions, but that support never materialized

> Lots of Americans think the world revolves around us. The truth is we have less influence than we think. We didn't provoke these protests, though we did give them false hope.

Sorry, but you're just wrong in this case. The US president absolutely had a huge impact here. Meaning it wasn't just "hope": if he hadn't said and done what he did, the protests and deaths absolutely would not have occurred at the same scale. I'll post an article for reference, but you will find more on this if you look.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/18/why-protesters...

[JumpCrisscross]

> if he hadn't said and done what he did, the protests and deaths absolutely would not have occurred at the same scale

The Guardian interviewing a handful of people, one of whom is a random protester in Iran, doesn’t establish this absolutely in any serious framework. The fact that the protests have recurred should give pause to your hypothesis.

[dataflow]

> The fact that the protests have recurred should give pause to your hypothesis.

First, the fact that they have recurred while the US has been building up military forces there should give you pause on your hypothesis.

Second, just because a fire grows and shrinks after being started, that doesn't mean there was no initial fuel.

Third, nobody said they wouldn't have recurred. The sentence was "they wouldn't have occurred at the same scale."

Finally, I replied to your other comment to avoid duplicating the discussion, and this is going to be my last comment on the matter: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47117884