The Wall Street Journal wrote on June 24:

"The turmoil in Iran is threatening to reshape the balance of power in the Middle East, denting the Islamic Republic's regional standing and spooking some Arab regimes with the specter of similar people-power uprisings. Whether or not the protests over Iran's disputed June 12 presidential election endanger President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, or the Islamic Republic itself, the crisis -- Iran's gravest internal challenge since the 1979 Islamic revolution -- has already triggered repercussions well beyond the country's borders...

"Iran-backed movements that the U.S. considers terrorists, such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Palestinian lands... [put] moderate Arab states such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia on the defensive. But, over the past week, the vivid TV images of Iranian security forces and Basij militias beating and killing unarmed protesters, including women, on the streets of Tehran have punctured the Islamic Republic's carefully constructed image as a champion of the oppressed masses...

"Even Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, whose leaders used to praise Mr. Ahmadinejad's radical views, seems dumbfounded by the upheaval. 'People are confused about what's happening in Iran,' says the head of the brotherhood's political bureau, Essam el Erian. On one hand, he explains, many Arabs share Mr. Ahmadinejad's hostility to Israel and the U.S. Yet, he adds, they also admire the courage of Iranian protesters and can relate to their cause, because elections in most Arab countries are either falsified or not held at all...

"Arab governments seem equally at a loss over how to react to the Iranian protests. In Bahrain, a Shiite-majority country ruled by a Sunni royal family, the government, seemingly fearful of provoking Tehran, this week temporarily closed the nation's oldest newspaper, Akhbar al Khaleej. The reason: a column, written by a government-appointed member of the country's legislature that attacked Mr. Ahmadinejad and Iran's theocratic system. In nearby Saudi Arabia, as well as in Egypt, state media gave relatively little prominence to Iranian protests.

"But the Saudi-backed al Arabiya satellite TV channel... was airing such sympathetic coverage of pro-democracy campaigners in Iran that the Iranian regime shut down the network's Tehran bureau...

"In Palestine, Iran is the key supporter of Hamas, the Islamist movement that controls the Gaza Strip and fought a bloody war against Israel in January. Palestinians have long been grateful to Iran for its unflinching support against Israel... The supporters of Hamas 'will remain sympathetic to Iran no matter what,' estimates Ghassan Khatib, a former Palestinian Authority government minister and peace negotiator... In Lebanon, Hezbollah... has been even more defensive of the Iranian regime, and more scornful of pro-Mousavi protesters... Hezbollah remains a formidable force, and turmoil in Iran is unlikely to weaken its hold over Lebanon's large Shiite community..."