Iran’s New Supreme Leader Built a $130M London Property Empire While Under Sanctions

Mojtaba Khamenei, who became Iran’s new Supreme Leader after his father’s assassination, secretly amassed luxury real estate worth over $130 million across London’s most exclusive neighborhoods.

From Shadow Figure to Supreme Leader

The man who just became Iran’s third Supreme Leader has been living a double life. While Mojtaba Khamenei publicly maintained the image of a humble cleric, he was quietly building one of the most impressive international property portfolios you’ve probably never heard of.

Now 56, Mojtaba stepped into power after his father Ali Khamenei was killed in a joint US-Israeli airstrike on February 28, 2026. But long before inheriting the ultimate authority over Iran’s 85 million people, the younger Khamenei had been accumulating serious wealth abroad – despite being personally sanctioned by the US since 2019.

A year-long investigation reveals how Mojtaba built a financial empire spanning luxury London mansions, Swiss bank accounts, and European hotels, all while his country faced some of the world’s toughest economic sanctions. The total? More than $130 million in assets, with the crown jewel being his London real estate collection worth over $200 million.

Billionaire’s Row and Spy-Worthy Apartments

The most eye-catching piece of Mojtaba’s portfolio sits on The Bishops Avenue in north London – better known as ‘Billionaire’s Row.’ This tree-lined street has historically attracted everyone from the Sultan of Brunei to pop stars, and now apparently, Iran’s ruling family.

Through a complex web of shell companies and intermediaries, Mojtaba controls at least 11 properties along this exclusive stretch. One mansion, Jersey House, traded for £33.7 million (about $45.3 million) back in 2014. The 1.2-acre property boasts its own leisure complex and staff housing, though a caretaker recently told reporters the grounds now sit empty.

But here’s where it gets really interesting: Mojtaba also owns two luxury apartments that literally overlook the Israeli Embassy in Kensington. Located just 164 feet from the embassy compound, these sixth and seventh-floor units cost a combined £35.7 million ($48 million) when purchased in 2014 and 2016.

Security experts are calling it ‘a permanent surveillance platform’ rather than a property investment. The apartments offer direct sightlines to the embassy, potentially allowing monitoring of staff and visitors, audio capture of outdoor conversations, and even hacking of wireless networks. As one counter-terrorism specialist put it: ‘This is a serious security breach.’

The Middleman and the Money Trail

None of these properties appear directly in Mojtaba’s name. Instead, they’re registered to Ali Ansari, a 57-year-old Iranian construction magnate who investigators describe as Mojtaba’s ‘financial conduit.’

Ansari’s story reads like something out of a spy novel. His family moved to Tehran around the time of the 1979 revolution, when his father joined a reconstruction committee funded by the Supreme Leader’s office. This work brought the family into contact with senior clerics, including the Khamenei inner circle.

In the late 1980s, during the Iran-Iraq War, the younger Ansari was drafted and reportedly first met Mojtaba, whose father was then Iran’s president. From there, Ansari secured lucrative state contracts in construction, shipping, and petrochemicals – industries that served as perfect conduits for moving government funds offshore.

The UK sanctioned Ansari in October 2025, calling him a ‘corrupt Iranian banker and businessman’ for financially supporting Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Through his lawyer, Ansari ‘strongly denies’ any financial or personal relationship with Mojtaba Khamenei and plans to challenge the sanctions.

A Global Empire Built on Oil Money

London is just the beginning. The investigation traced Mojtaba’s network to luxury properties in Dubai’s ‘Beverly Hills,’ upscale hotels in Frankfurt and Mallorca, and bank accounts in Switzerland and the UAE.

The money allegedly comes from Iran’s shadow oil trade – a network of aging tankers that use ‘spoofing’ and ‘flag-hopping’ to evade international sanctions. The oil gets rebranded as ‘Middle Eastern’ or ‘Malaysian’ in waters off Malaysia, then sold to fund these overseas investments.

It’s a perfect example of how Iran’s elite have managed to move capital abroad despite facing ‘one of history’s toughest sanctions regimes,’ as experts put it. Weaknesses in global financial systems – from lax beneficial ownership registries to limited sanctions enforcement – allow these clandestine networks to thrive.

Now that Mojtaba has assumed the Supreme Leader role, he doesn’t just control his personal empire. He also heads the Execution of Imam Khomeini’s Order, a state-owned conglomerate managing billions in assets across multiple sectors, plus the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps with its own diversified business empire spanning oil, transportation, banking, and telecommunications.

For a man who once avoided the public spotlight, Mojtaba Khamenei has certainly made his mark – both in London’s luxury property market and now on the world stage.