“ we hope that like 1978, when the democrats took power [in Iran after the fall of the Shah], the revolution succeeded. This time, it [will] happen again by persuading Russia and China not to support this regime. They still feel they will control the situation, but when Russia and China turns agains them, they’re going to think of backing off a little.
—
an Iranian dissident, discussing how outside countries would influence the decisions made by the Iranian leaders to ignore the protestors.
note: US support=irrelevant