> If they didn't have a hand in the protests, that seems like a stunning failure on the part of the US State Department to support their own policies

This is nothing but evidence free speculation. What you’re doing is undermining the validity of the protest movement and parroting the line of the Iranian government. It’s disgusting. Take this shit somewhere else.

You say it as if influencers are something bad. If they spread democracy, why would they be bad?

It's hardly evidence-free, this stuff [0, 1, 2] has been making international news headlines for months. And the last time the US was involved in toppling Iran they used paid-for protests [3] so it is barely speculative to say they'd do again what worked last time. That is just common sense on their part. If they haven't done that, then people will be fired in the US executive for incompetence because that is the cheapest way to achieve their rather clear goals of rolling Iran's power structures. If you don't believe that they did that, who do you think is responsible for that failure on the US government's part?

It is unfortunate that the US's actions right now undermined whatever validity you feel the protests had. I certainly agree it is disgusting - and also bad for US interests so it is curious why they're doing it. Take it up with them if you have a problem with the idea, I'm not a US general or policy maker.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran%E2%80%93Israel_war

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_strikes_on_Irani...

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_military_buildup...

[3] https://theconversation.com/how-the-cia-toppled-iranian-demo... / https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_Iranian_coup_d%27%C3%A9ta...