Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei bought two apartments in London, totaling £35 million, next to the Israeli embassy, The Telegraph revealed on Monday.
The properties were reportedly bought with the help of Ali Ansari, 57, an Iranian banker connected to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Ansari bought the apartments on behalf of Khamenei from 2014 to 2016, the Telegraph reported.
He was later sanctioned by the British government in October 2025 for financing the IRGC. Ansari had his assets frozen and was banned from traveling to the UK, the Telegraph noted.
“Today we are announcing sanctions against corrupt Iranian banker and businessman, Ali Aliakbar Ansari, for his role in financially supporting the activities of the IRGC,” Hamish Falconer, the UK’s minister for the Middle East, said at the time Ansari was sanctioned.
“This designation sends a clear message – we will not tolerate threats from the IRGC and will not hesitate to take the most effective measures against them,” Falconer added.
According to Bloomberg, Ansari was “vital” to the deals.
Together, the two apartments are valued at approximately £50 million, located next door to the Israeli embassy in Kensington Palace Gardens, The Telegraph reported.
Roger Gherson, Ansari’s lawyer, slammed the allegations against him.
“Mr. Ansari, in response to damaging allegations in the international media, vehemently denies any financial relationship with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps or the new supreme leader,” Gherson wrote in a statement.
Mojtaba Khamenei’s rise shatters facade of ‘moderate’ Iran
The discovery of Khamenei’s properties came right after he was elected Iran’s new supreme leader on Sunday, marking a watershed moment in the history of the Islamic Republic.
For decades, the regime has attempted to maintain a facade of republicanism intertwined with theocratic rule.
However, the succession from father to son strips away this facade, transforming the regime into a dictatorship and exposing severe vulnerabilities within Tehran’s power structures.
According to Dr. Tamar Eilam Gindin of the Ezri Center for Iran and Persian Gulf Research at the University of Haifa, the move violates the core tenets upon which the Islamic Republic was founded.
“This is kingship. This is like royal succession. It’s the ultimate sign of dictatorship,” she explained, noting the historical irony for a nation that overthrew a monarchy 45 years ago.
First Appeared on
Source link
Leave feedback about this