A rare scandal has shaken Iran’s ruling elite after a video surfaced showing the daughter of Ali Shamkhani, a close adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, at her wedding wearing a strapless gown—an apparent violation of the country’s strict hijab laws.
The footage, reportedly from the 2024 wedding of Shamkhani’s daughter Fatemeh, spread rapidly on social media, sparking outrage among critics who accuse Iran’s leadership of hypocrisy. In Iran women are legally required to wear hijab in public yet leaked video revealed the senior official’s family disregarding that rule during the ceremony.
In the clip, Shamkhani is seen holding his daughter’s hand as they enter the lavish Espinas Palace Hotel in Tehran. The bride wears an off-shoulder white gown, while Shamkhani’s wife appears in a blue lace dress without a headscarf. Several other women present were also unveiled.
Following the video’s release, a wave of criticism erupted online and among opposition figures. Shamkhani former secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council and one of Khamenei’s most trusted aides claimed the footage leaked by Israel. Citing Iran International, he said, “Hacking people’s private lives is now Israel’s new tactic,” accusing Tel Aviv of trying to discredit the Islamic Republic.
However, critics were quick to note Shamkhani’s history of enforcing the same laws now violated by his own family. During the 2022 nationwide protests over the death of Mahsa Amini, Shamkhani oversaw harsh crackdowns as head of the National Security Council. Many now call his family’s actions blatant hypocrisy.
Former Iranian minister Ezzatollah Zarghami defended Shamkhani, saying the ceremony was “female-only” and attended mostly by relatives, with Shamkhani lowering his head respectfully. Still, public anger continues to grow.
Ali Reza Akhundi, an Iranian-born Swedish lawmaker, denounced the wedding as a “display of hypocrisy and corruption.” He said, “The daughter of one of the most repressive and corrupt officials of the Islamic Republic marries freely, while ordinary Iranian women are beaten for showing a strand of hair.”
Exiled journalist and activist Masih Alinejad echoed the sentiment on social media platform X, writing, “The daughter of Iran’s top law enforcer wears a strapless dress, while women at home are punished for uncovered hair.”
Even Tasnim News, a media outlet tied to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, criticized the incident, urging officials to live “simpler and more modest lives” to preserve credibility—though it also condemned the leaking of a private video as unethical.
On Monday, Shargh, Iran’s reformist-leaning newspaper, ran a front-page photograph of Shamkhani with the headline: “Buried Under Scandal”.
Omid Memarian, an Iran expert at DAWN, a Washington-based research organisation that focuses on American foreign policy in the Middle East, told The New York Times, “It’s hypocrisy in its purest form.”
Ellie Omidvari, an Iranian women’s rights activist, recalled the hundreds killed in the protests, some of them newlyweds. “Their bride is in a palace, our bride is buried under the ground,” she said.
