10 Moments That Made the Love Story of Sasha Sobhani and Laura Niemas

Ahmed Sobhani: The Diplomatic Legacy Behind Sasha’s Controversy

Ahmed Sobhani served as Iran’s ambassador to Venezuela in the years when Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was president, and his son Sasha Sobhani joined him in Caracas at age 12. When his father left at the end of Mr. Ahmadinejad’s second term, Sasha stayed behind.

But it is the younger Mr. Sobhani who has received attention—mostly negative—in Iran, with a string of provocative online statements and activities that have outraged many Iranians.

In one statement, he suggested that those without money should die; another time, he bragged about his involvement in a betting site.

He has said publicly that he does not rely on his father’s wealth. But like Joseph Kennedy III or any other rich man’s son who brags about flying first class or owning designer clothes, he seems to enjoy angering people and rubbing their noses in it.

And at a time of intense public anger over inequality and corruption by the country’s political and religious elite—wwhich was brought into sharp relief last month by a deadly gas explosion near Tehran—Sasha Sobhani’s lack of empathy and casual flaunting of wealth have attracted particular ire.