Offers of "assistance" from the US are likely to be looked upon with skepticism by many dissidents in Iran--mostly due to the US's sorry history there (e.g. the US-engineered overthrow of Mossadegh and years of support of the Shah). Simply put--US relations with the country have historically and consistently undermined democracy. We would need to proceed very cautiously to convince Iranians that there has been an honest change in US interests.

One way to do this is to embrace prominent Iranian secularists. Unfortunately, the US government has not done this in a satisfactory fashion. Denying visas for prominent secular artists and intellectuals like Abbas Kiarostami or Bahman Ghobadi to travel to the US is extremely stupid. Similarly the Treasury Department's attempts to shut down academic cooperation between US and Iranian scholars does nothing but breed resentment in Iran to the US. Openness and interaction is needed to build these relationships with those elements of Iranian society that are critical of the ruling mullahs.