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 byBloomberg Newspublished 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 byBloomberg.

Farzin Nadimi, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy who has studied the Khamenei family’s finances closely, toldBloomberg: “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."

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.

Source: World News in news18.com, World Latest News, World News