According to a video posted on CBN News, on Saturday June 20, 2026, Lana Silk of Transform Iran described the heavy toll Iranian protesters paid over the past six months, saying many believed they were acting with American support that has since faded.
Silk explained that the unrest inside Iran began as an internal protest movement, with citizens demonstrating against years of mistreatment by their own government.
She said encouragement from Western leaders, including early statements from President Trump expressing support for the protesters, gave many Iranians the confidence to escalate their resistance against the regime.
In his words, Silk said, “Iranians really took that to heart and took that to the next level and sacrificed tens of thousands of lives in this fight against their regime in full confidence that America was coming, going to come and help.
“And that language has significantly changed and softened in the last few months,” she said.
Silk said the shift from talk of regime change to a negotiated settlement has left many Iranians feeling abandoned, describing an emotional progression from hope and courage to discouragement, fear, and now anger.
She noted that the signing of the first ceasefire was already seen as a setback by many inside the country, and that the latest memorandum has deepened those feelings, with people now openly questioning whether outside help was ever truly coming.
Silk said the disappointment is compounded by reports that Iran’s government has used pauses in external conflict to intensify crackdowns at home, including increased executions of those detained during earlier protests.
She said this pattern reflects a long-standing strategy by Iranian leadership to redirect focus toward suppressing internal dissent whenever outside pressure eases.
