The children of the Islamic Republic’s ruling class have long lived by different rules. A viral social media post this week offered the world a fresh reminder of just how different.
Sasha Sobhani did not attempt subtlety. In a video posted to his Instagram account — which commands an audience of nearly four million followers — the 38-year-old was filmed boarding a private jet alongside his 20-year-old girlfriend, Spanish model Laura Neimas, allegedly bound for Ibiza’s 2026 season-opening weekend. Neimas carried a Hermès Birkin bag valued at approximately £25,000. Sobhani himself clutched a Louis Vuitton holdall priced at £2,690. Settling into the aircraft’s rear cabin, he spread himself across a plush sofa and addressed the camera with a declaration that has since circulated widely: “Thank God for all these blessings.”
The footage, posted on Wednesday, drew immediate and fierce condemnation — not least because of who Sobhani’s father is. Ahmad Sobhani is a former Iranian ambassador to Venezuela, a senior figure in a regime that enforces strict dress codes, criminalises dissent, and has overseen the deaths of more than 3,000 of its own citizens since a conflict with the United States began in February.
The Aghazadeh: A Class Apart
Sobhani belongs to a category of Iranians with an informal but widely recognised name: the aghazadeh — loosely translated as “born of masters.” These are the sons and daughters of senior regime officials, Revolutionary Guard commanders, and politically connected families who have used proximity to power to insulate themselves from the economic and social pressures that define ordinary Iranian life.
While international sanctions have gutted the Iranian economy and pushed millions into poverty, the aghazadeh have proved adept at navigating — and in many cases directly benefiting from — the very structures that enforce those restrictions. Access to foreign currency, offshore assets, and regime-connected business networks has allowed this class to flourish in ways that bear no resemblance to the daily realities faced by most Iranians.
Sobhani’s social media output makes little effort to conceal this. His account features a recurring gallery of superyachts, luxury vehicles, ski chalets and alcohol-fuelled gatherings — images that would constitute criminal offences inside Iran, where many of the women depicted would face arrest for their manner of dress alone. In 2023, he posted a photograph of himself surrounded by seven women in bikinis on a boat in Dubai. Neimas herself appeared in the Ibiza video wearing an outfit that would violate the Islamic Republic’s strict modesty laws.
Why the Timing Has Intensified the Outrage
The reaction to Sobhani’s latest posts cannot be separated from the broader context in which they appeared. Iran entered a temporary ceasefire with the United States earlier this month — an agreement that US President Donald Trump extended this week to allow time for Tehran to submit to a unified peace proposal. The pause in hostilities has been fragile, with both sides trading accusations of violations, particularly surrounding the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran closed during the conflict and whose disruption has compounded economic hardship for Iranian civilians.
Against this backdrop, security officials in Tehran have publicly stated their intention to maintain a heightened domestic presence for as long as what they describe as “enemy threats” persist. The result is a society simultaneously absorbing the shock of a war, an economic stranglehold, and intensifying internal repression.
Sobhani’s caption on the Ibiza post — in which he invited followers to comment for a chance to join him on a luxury excursion — struck many as a provocation that could scarcely have been more poorly timed. Though, to those familiar with the aghazadeh phenomenon, the indifference to optics is itself part of a long-established pattern.
A Relationship Made Public, A Lifestyle on Display
Sobhani and Neimas made their relationship official on Instagram in May 2024, having reportedly begun seeing each other the previous December. Since then, the pair have appeared regularly on his account, documenting trips to ski resorts and voyages on private yachts. Prior to their relationship, Sobhani’s feed followed a similar template, centred on conspicuous displays of wealth and the company of women whose dress and behaviour would be illegal in the country whose political establishment granted his family its status.
The mid-flight video also showed Sobhani and a companion eating a Persian meal while seated on a traditional rug — a detail that, for many viewers, added a particular sting to the imagery. The trappings of Iranian cultural identity deployed in service of a lifestyle made possible by the regime’s corruption struck observers as a pointed, if perhaps unintentional, encapsulation of the aghazadeh’s relationship with the country they represent by name but rarely, it seems, by experience.
