Several key advisers to former President Barack Obama have poured scorn on President Donald Trump’s support for the protests sweeping Iran in recent days.

In 2009, when the “Green Revolution” threatened the Iranian regime, Obama and his administration refrained from supporting the protests. Obama said that “we respect Iranian sovereignty and want to avoid the United States being the issue inside of Iran.”

That weak response, and the administration’s general lack of support for the demonstrators, allowed the regime to consolidate power.

Obama was more concerned with preserving the possibility of an eventual deal on Iran’s nuclear program than he was in removing the Iranian regime as a strategic threat or in standing up for human rights. Critics charge that Obama missed a golden opportunity.

President Trump has taken the opposite approach, vigorously supporting the protests and criticizing the regime:

Many reports of peaceful protests by Iranian citizens fed up with regime’s corruption & its squandering of the nation’s wealth to fund terrorism abroad. Iranian govt should respect their people’s rights, including right to express themselves. The world is watching! #IranProtests — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 30, 2017

The entire world understands that the good people of Iran want change, and, other than the vast military power of the United States, that Iran’s people are what their leaders fear the most…. pic.twitter.com/W8rKN9B6RT — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 30, 2017

Oppressive regimes cannot endure forever, and the day will come when the Iranian people will face a choice. The world is watching! pic.twitter.com/kvv1uAqcZ9 — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 30, 2017

Big protests in Iran. The people are finally getting wise as to how their money and wealth is being stolen and squandered on terrorism. Looks like they will not take it any longer. The USA is watching very closely for human rights violations! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 31, 2017

Iran, the Number One State of Sponsored Terror with numerous violations of Human Rights occurring on an hourly basis, has now closed down the Internet so that peaceful demonstrators cannot communicate. Not good! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 31, 2017

Iran is failing at every level despite the terrible deal made with them by the Obama Administration. The great Iranian people have been repressed for many years. They are hungry for food & for freedom. Along with human rights, the wealth of Iran is being looted. TIME FOR CHANGE! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 1, 2018

But the Obama brain trust rejects Trump’s approach, and apparently believes the approach Obama took in 2009 remains the best one.

Former National Security Advisor Susan Rice tweeted a New York Times op-ed by former Obama aide Philip Gordon, “How Can Trump Help Iran’s Protesters? Be Quiet.” The author argues that supporting the protests, and taking steps to end the Iran nuclear deal, will only help the regime to delegitimize its internal opponents.

How Can Trump Help Iran’s Protesters? Be Quiet. https://t.co/w0MNlWMkxG — Susan Rice (@AmbassadorRice) December 31, 2017

Rice offered no other statement of solidarity for the demonstrators.

Rob Malley, who had once been dropped from the Obama campaign for meeting with the Hamas terrorist group but found his way back into the administration in negotiations with Iran, also praised Gordon’s op-ed.

Strong piece by Phil Gordon https://t.co/6hduqAUVMi — Rob Malley (@Rob_Malley) December 31, 2017

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who was in office during the Green Revolution, was more supportive of the protesters, but said merely that she “hope[d]” the Iranian regime would listen to them.

The Iranian people, especially the young, are protesting for the freedom and future they deserve. I hope their government responds peacefully and supports their hopes. — Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) December 31, 2017

Her successor, John Kerry, endorsed Obama’s 2009 position once more, stating that “it’s an Iranian moment and not anyone else’s.”

With humility about how little we know about what’s happening inside Iran, this much is clear: it’s an Iranian moment and not anyone else’s. But the rights of people to protest peacefully and voice their aspirations are universal and governments everywhere should respect that. — John Kerry (@JohnKerry) December 31, 2017

Former Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes, who ran an “echo chamber” of administration-friendly pundits to sell the Iran deal to the American public, criticized American observers who believed the U.S. should encourage the protests:

The Iranian people are rightfully demanding dignity, less corruption, more opportunity, and greater control over their lives. In looking at US twitter, it seems lost on too many that this is about what Iranians want for Iran, and not about us. — Ben Rhodes (@brhodes) December 31, 2017

His friend Tommy Vietor, a former spokesman for the National Security Council, used the protests to take a snarky shot at the president:

Trump loves protestors as long as they’re not American. — Tommy Vietor (@TVietor08) December 31, 2017

And former UN Ambassador Samantha Power used the opportunity to criticize President Trump’s immigration policy:

We stand with the Iranian people so much that we won’t let them come here. https://t.co/fzbv8idiiJ — Samantha Power (@SamanthaJPower) January 1, 2018

In his 2014 book Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War, former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates admitted that although he had been persuaded at the time “that too powerful an American voice on behalf of the protesters might provide ammunition for the regime,” he later regretted it: “In retrospect, I think we could and should have done more, at least rhetorically.” (328)

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He was named to Forward’s 50 “most influential” Jews in 2017. He is the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.