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Leaked Wedding Video May Be Trouble for Iran Rules Enforcer

Clip reveals lavish celebration and revealing dresses
Posted Oct 21, 2025 12:34 PM CDT
Iran's Enforcer of Rules for Women Accused of Hypocrisy
In this June, 12, 2021, file photo, former Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani sits in a meeting in Tehran, Iran.   (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi, File)

A leaked wedding video showing the daughter of one of Iran's most powerful officials in a revealing dress at a lavish ceremony has sparked outrage and accusations of hypocrisy at the highest levels of the Islamic Republic. Rear Adm. Ali Shamkhani, a key figure in Iran's defense and national security establishment and a close adviser to the supreme leader, is facing a wave of public criticism, including calls for his resignation, after footage of his daughter's 2024 wedding surfaced online over the weekend, reports NDTV. The video shows Shamkhani walking his daughter down the aisle, with the bride in a low-cut strapless gown and Shamkhani's wife in a backless one, per the New York Times. There are no headscarves among the visible female attendants.

The display of apparent wealth and disregard for conservative Islamic norms has struck a nerve in Iran, where many are struggling financially and the government is known for enforcing strict dress codes—sometimes by force. Shamkhani's daughter "had a lavish wedding in a strapless dress," wrote exiled activist Masih Alinejad. "Meanwhile, women in Iran are beaten for showing their hair, and young people can't afford to marry." It's "hypocrisy in its purest form," added Omid Memarian, an analyst at the Washington-based research organization DAWN.

Shamkhani currently represents Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on the National Defense Council and was, until last year, the powerful secretary of the Supreme National Security Council. He and his sons are also believed to control a lucrative shipping business, drawing further anger from Iranians who accuse him of profiting while ordinary citizens suffer under sanctions. The US sanctioned Shamkhani in 2020. Some of his allies claim the scandal is the result of a political smear campaign and that male and female wedding guests were segregated. Shamkhani himself responded bluntly on social media, writing, "Bastards, I'm still alive!"—a comment he later repeated to a reporter, per the Times.

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