THE CONVERSATION via Reuters — A short video of a private wedding went viral in Iran recently, tearing away the country’s veil of piety and exposing hypocrisy and a seeming disregard for the rules by which the theocratic regime requires that most Iranians live their lives.

The wedding in question, which took place in mid-2024 at the luxurious Espinas Palace Hotel in Tehran, was that of Fatemeh Shamkhani. She is the daughter of Ali Shamkhani, a close adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei.

She wore a low-cut strapless dress with a western-style bridal veil rather than the full head covering mandated for Iranian women. Many wedding guests also wore modern Western styles, and a lot of the women went without head coverings.

The video displayed images that were starkly dissonant, revealing the significant class and moral divides within the Islamic Republic and contradicting Iran’s values of revolutionary simplicity and Islamic modesty.

That it was Shamkhani’s family wedding made matters worse. A former commander of the regime’s Revolutionary Guards, he is a key power broker in Iran who has the ear of Khamenei himself.

He was also involved in recent years in the savage crackdown on public protests, acting in defense of the same security and morality laws his family was seen so lavishly violating at the wedding celebration.

A video purportedly showing the wedding of the daughter of Ali Shamkhani, a top advisor to Iran's Supreme Leader, has sparked widespread reactions on social media.
Users are criticizing the Islamic Republic officials’ hypocrisy and double standards, pointing to the lavish nature… pic.twitter.com/Dk5y9Vvgqy

— Iran International English (@IranIntl_En) October 18, 2025

More than a mere scandal, the event functions as a potent symbol of a systemic crisis. It has highlighted the triple ailments of elite privilege, selective morality and a........

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