Trita Parsi is author of "Losing an Enemy: Obama, Iran and the Triumph of Diplomacy," and President of the National Iranian American Council. The views expressed in this commentary are his own.

(CNN) In a matter of days, protests in Iran have quickly spread across the country, taking the government by surprise and leaving analysts and pundits alike confused. Part of the reason many have been caught off guard is because these protests appear quite different from their 2009 predecessor -- in terms of size, leadership and objective.

But another reason is that the drivers of these protests are from a segment of the population that has rarely figured into Iran's political developments in the past two decades -- those who never believed or have lost hope in the idea of real change through reform.

Trita Parsi

Similarities between the current protests and the 2009 uprising are quite limited. While the current demonstrations started outside of Tehran -- in Mashhad and Qom -- and quickly spread to other cities, their size remains relatively small compared to what the world observed after Iran's fraudulent 2009 elections.

In the first few days after that election, more than one million people protested in the streets of Tehran. Though quite ferocious, the current protests have rarely numbered more than a few thousand in any specific locality.

The protests in 2009 also had very specific goals -- at least initially. They were prompted by accusations of fraud in the presidential election, and the protestors were demanding the votes be recounted. The protests also had strong leadership from then-presidential candidates Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, who gave the movement much-needed organization.

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