Iran's New Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei Linked To £100m Hidden Property Empire

Last Updated:March 09, 2026, 14:09 IST

Iran's most powerful cleric's son secretly owns £100M in London mansions and Dubai villas. Here's how he hid it all from the world.

Iran’s newly named Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, 56, has been secretly building a property and financial empire worth over £100 million across the United Kingdom, Europe, and the Gulf, according to a year-long investigation by Bloomberg News published Monday. The cleric, who was formally appointed head of the Islamic Republic by the Assembly of Experts on Sunday, just days after his father Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was assassinated in joint US-Israeli strikes, is believed to have funnelled funds into luxury Western assets through a web of shell companies and front men, all while evading American sanctions that have been in place against him since 2019.

The investigation, based on real estate records, confidential business documents, and sources from within a leading Western intelligence agency, reveals a financial network stretching from London’s most exclusive streets to Swiss bank accounts, a Dubai villa, and five-star hotels in Germany and Spain.

London’s Billionaire’s Row at the Centre

Among the most striking findings is the alleged ownership of multiple mansions on Bishop’s Avenue in north London, a stretch informally known as “Billionaire’s Row." One property on the street was purchased in 2014 for £33.7 million. Private guards stationed outside in dark SUVs are a regular sight, while the properties themselves sit mostly empty behind blacked-out gates and surveillance cameras.

The ownership of these properties, however, does not trace back to Mojtaba Khamenei directly. Instead, they are held through layers of shell companies and dummy corporations, with the assets formally registered in the name of Ali Ansari, a sanctioned Iranian oil tycoon. The UK sanctioned Ansari in October 2025. Through his lawyer, Ansari has strongly denied any financial or personal relationship with Mojtaba Khamenei and says he intends to challenge the UK sanctions.

A Global Network of Hidden Wealth

Beyond London, the network reportedly includes a villa in the area referred to as the “Beverly Hills of Dubai," upscale hotels in Frankfurt and on Spain’s Mallorca coast, a penthouse in Toronto’s Four Seasons Private Residences sold for C$10.5 million in 2020, and a section of a building in Paris offloaded in 2023.

Funds for these transactions were routed through a relay of accounts in the UK, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and the United Arab Emirates, with the money reportedly originating from Iranian oil sales, according to documents reviewed by Bloomberg.

Farzin Nadimi, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy who has studied the Khamenei family’s finances closely, told Bloomberg: “Mojtaba has major stakes or de facto control in various entities throughout Iran and abroad. When you analyse his financial network, Ali Ansari is the main account holder for him. This positions Ansari as one of the most influential oligarchs in the country today."

Why It Matters

Now Iran’s Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei was formally appointed to the position by the Assembly of Experts on Sunday, just over a week after his father was killed in joint US-Israeli strikes on 28 February. Known for his deep ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and long accustomed to working from the shadows, the new leader is widely expected to take a more hardline position than his father, with analysts warning of a more confrontational Iran ahead.

The alleged hidden fortune sits in sharp contrast to the image of austerity that Iranian state media has long projected about the Supreme Leader’s family. Iran is now in the midst of an active war with the United States and Israel, grappling with rising poverty, mounting civilian casualties, and ongoing protests that have left thousands dead since the start of the year, fuelling deepening public anger against the clerical establishment.

Ansari also owns Ayandeh Bank, an Iranian private lender. His network’s hotel holdings in Frankfurt have drawn the attention of local German authorities.

Frankfurt’s deputy mayor, Nargess Eskandari-Grunberg, told Bloomberg: “This regime has no legitimacy whatsoever. The companies and associates of those in power must be sanctioned," urging the German federal government to act.

Neither Mojtaba Khamenei nor Ali Ansari responded to Bloomberg’s questions regarding the named entities.

The British government’s decision to sanction Ansari and freeze the associated assets has complicated the picture significantly, raising fresh questions about how far Western governments are prepared to go in targeting the financial networks of Iran’s ruling class.

With inputs from agencies

News world Iran's New Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei Linked To £100m Hidden Property Empire

Read More