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Analysis

From 'help is on the way' to nuclear talks, Iranians wary of Trump's shift

After Trump repeatedly pledged to hold Tehran accountable for its protest crackdown, many Iranians are still waiting for him to make good on his promises.

An Iranian man walks past an anti-US and anti-Israel banner hanging on a building in Palestine Square in Tehran on Jan. 27, 2026.
An Iranian man walks past an anti-US and anti-Israel banner hanging on a building in Palestine Square in Tehran on Jan. 27, 2026. — ATTA KENARE / AFP via Getty Images

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WASHINGTON — When US and Iranian negotiators sit down for talks Friday, nearly a month will have passed since Iran’s security forces massacred thousands in the streets of Tehran, undeterred by President Donald Trump’s pledge to come to the protesters' “rescue.”

The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) has verified more than 6,800 deaths from the protests, with some 11,200 cases still under investigation. That the Trump administration is holding talks with Iran in the wake of the bloodshed is seen by many Iranians as undercutting its earlier pledges to hold the regime accountable. 

Al-Monitor’s Tehran-based correspondent, whose name is withheld for security purposes, said in a WhatsApp message that “a deep sense of betrayal has begun to take hold” among Iranians. 

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