The Iranian demonstrators have obtained a very important result, however things go. Now the Western public opinion, especially in Israel, the United States and Great Britain, historical enemies of the Iranian regime, is compelled to see Iran in a different way. Not as a country of religious fanatics willing to follow their leaders to the folly of atomic war, but also as the country of boys and girls who use computers, listen and play music, and are willing to take to the streets and also to die for freedom. Now the West knows that the Iranians are not enemies, because we saw that many of them are men and women like us. (Francesco Defferrari)The sentiment expressed in that paragraph (and the linked article) is being debated in a Reddit thread. I can't speak re the European perspective, but I'm sure there are many thousands of Amerians whose perception of Iran could be summarized as "What? You mean there are pretty girls in Iran? I thought it was all old men with beards..." These are people who would not conceive of Iranians having ski resorts, cloverleaf highway interchanges, and jetskis on lakes.
The protests and their coverage in American media certainly won't result in a sea change of public opinion, but to the more perspicacious observer the events may emphasize that in Iran (as in the United States and elsewhere) the policies expressed and implemented by governments are often quite different from the ones favored by many of the people they "represent."