Iran Regime Insider’s Son Boards Private Jet To Party In Ibiza While Iranians Face Hardship And Repression

Mohammad Javad “Sasha” Sobhani is here boarding a private jet for Ibiza while carrying a Louis Vuitton bag. He’s the son of a top Iranian official who, as far as I can tell, is still alive.

He has a years-long run as an Iranian luxury-playboy influencer, flaunting Ferraris, private planes, champagne, parties, women, gambling and open contempt for poorer Iranians. His father has overseen inflation, poverty, sanctions, repression, and corruption.

Sobhani is part of the “Rich Kids of Tehran” phenomenon – a symbol of insider privilege in the Islamic Republic. He’s mocked criticism, telling poorer critics to work harder and “drop dead.”

Iran accused him of offenses including money laundering and operating or promoting illegal gambling sites, and Spanish authorities detained him in Madrid in 2021 on Iran’s request before releasing him.

  • His father called him back to Iran in 2013, and he threw raves in Tehran.
  • He drew attention from the morality authorities after a 2018 Instagram Live from Turkey showed a naked woman in the background.
  • He was arrested on pornography-related charges in Iran and departed to Turkey and later Europe.

Even when there’s a performative crackdown he can (1) still leave, and (2) still have his ostentatious lifestyle funded.

His father is Ahmad Sobhani, who was Iran’s ambassador to Venezuela in the early 2000s and later deputy foreign minister for European and American Affairs in 2007.

“Aghazadeh” is the derogatory label for children of regime insiders who enjoy outsized wealth and protection because of family connections. The Iranian regime presents itself as pious, anti-Western, anti-decadent, and morally austere. The children of insiders are seen living a Western lifestyle of excess that’s condemned at home.

Ordinary Iranians live under tight social control, economic poverty and violent crackdowns. Yet this clown uses money extacted from the Iranian people for alcohol, parties, and jets. 7.5% of Iranians live on less than $4.20 per day in 2023 and 36% less than $8.30 per day.

The Iranian regime is a police state that can bankrupt you, jail you, torture you, shoot you in the street for dissent, and hang you after a sham trial. For women, add on compulsory hijab, morality policing, arrest and beatings for disobedience, and the constant threat of prison, sexual violence, and humiliation for refusing to submit. This clown mocks ordinary Iranians, at the same time the freedoms he enjoys are denied to them.

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Comments

  1. Seriously Gary, how is this remotely relevant to travel, the business of aviation etc.?

  2. influencer literally boarding a private jet

    in any case this is and always has been a blog about whatever interested me at the time i was writing it – has been the case for nearly 24 years!

  3. A perfect example of the hypocrisy of that religion. Males dress like westerners and blend in. The women are forced to dress like Darth Vader.

  4. Who cares???

    Also, Iran has largely won this conflict and for the second time in 47 years, successfully humiliated the United States. The illegal, US taxpayer funded war, launched without authorization and in violation of human rights laws, and basic principles of diplomatic process, has, thanks to Trump succeeded in prolonging the existence of the Iranian regime.

  5. Wealthy son of Iranian president board private jet while Iranians suffer. Wealthy children of American president board private jets while Americans suffer. What am I missing?

  6. None of this has anything to do with the U.S. conflict in Iran.

    They’re a terrible regime, it’s miserable to live under them, but also unclear whether the U.S. can or should try to do anything about that.

  7. I am laughing hysterically at the tattoo artists who got to work on this dude.
    Congrats as this person will be much easier to spot, and at least you made a bit of money of this thing. Kind of feel sorry for the gal being trafficked though as I am sure the attire would not fly in Iran without some beatings, stoning, or chemical disfigurement.

    This is the reality of Iran under the regime there.

  8. “a police state that can bankrupt you, jail you, torture you, shoot you in the street for dissent, and hang you after a sham trial”. Iran or USA? Ask anybody that has medical issues in the US, anybody who is a color other than white, or from Minneapolis, or has had to utilize the services of the innocence project which country this is. It would be hard to tell. This is the pot calling the kettle black if I have ever seen it. Not that I don’t agree that the kettle is indeed black, but maybe should not be the pot calling it out

  9. Tomorrow we have an update on the t-rump’s golf game or what his brain dead kids are doing during this idiotic “conflict”.

    @LadyOlives: you are too generous. It has been more than two but your point is valid.

  10. @Lady Olives

    Really? Trump basically destroyed their military. Now he chokes them with the Blockade. I don’t think the Iranians planned for that. $500 million per day of lost revenue to the Iranian government.

  11. Same as the kids of North Korean or Cold War Communist big wigs. Or Saudi’s or other dictatorships for that matter. Rules are for little people. And in the US guess who has a better chance with the legal system, Ivy League admissions, etc.

  12. Love kidstara’s take.

    Add in the ICE performances, detention center, Christian Nationalist push here and the Trump Family. Not a lot of difference in the rulers.

  13. And Trump flies off to Mar-a-lago nearly every weekend in his big 747 to play golf at a cost of $3 million each trip to taxpayers.

  14. @Coffee Please — I donno. Gary has an auto-mod, but usually approves/posts, even after a delay…

  15. @Coffee please – I did not censor you. The comment software tagged it for moderation, so as soon as I went back to the comments I saw that and cleared it. Sorry for any delay.

  16. Amazing how some commenters here seem to think the US is anything comparable to the Islamic Regime in Iran.

    Get a life, socialist communists, and definitely don’t go to Iran, because you wouldn’t last a day there.

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