Ayatollah’s Son, Mojtaba Owns £100m Property In The UK

The son of Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei owns luxury mansions in Britain worth more than £100 million.

Mojtaba Khamenei, 56, who is touted as the leader’s successor, is said to own 11 properties on The Bishops Avenue – an exclusive street in Hampstead, north London, also known as ‘Billionaires’ Row’.

Mr Khamenei, the Ayatollah’s second son, owns the properties through a network of shell companies, one of which is registered in the tax haven of the Isle of Man.

Birch Ventures Limited does not list Mr Khamenei as a director or owner, but it lists banker Ali Ansari as a beneficial owner.

Mr Ansari, described as an Iranian oligarch with close links to the Khamenei family, was sanctioned by the Treasury in October.

He is accused of financing the Ayatollah’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp (IRGC), said to be behind most of the killings of protesters in the recent nationwide anti-regime demonstrations that left up to 70,000 Iranians dead.

Mr Ansari used to run the Ayandeh Bank, which collapsed last year, adding to Iran’s economic woes. The Treasury sanction statement made no reference to Mr Khamenei being linked to Mr Ansari.

The news channel Bloomberg says it has spoken to sources and seen documents which link the London properties to Mr Khamenei, who has built himself a global property empire through Mr Ansari.

Mojtaba Khamenei, 56, who is touted as Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s successor, is said to own 11 properties on Bishops Avenue.

Land Registry Records show The Bishops Avenue premises were all bought together in 2013 for £73 million, and their value is now believed to be in excess of £100 million.

It comes as five people were killed after explosions ripped across Iran yesterday. Video footage showed smoke billowing from a building in the southern port city of Bandar Abbas.

A four-year-old girl was killed and 14 people injured. Fire chiefs blamed the blast on a gas explosion.

The semi-official Tasnim news agency said social media reports alleging the commander of the regime’s naval forces had been targeted in the Bandar Abbas explosion were ‘completely false’.

Four members of the same family died in an explosion in the city of Ahvaz near the Iraqi border, according to the state-run Tehran Times.

Dramatic satellite images show activity at Iranian nuclear sites bombed by the US.

Again, a gas leak was blamed for the blast. Four other explosions were reported across Iran.

It follows US President Donald Trump’s threat of airstrikes against the Ayatollah over the deaths of protesters. Two Israeli officials said the country was not involved in the blasts. Last night, the Pentagon did not respond to a request for comment.

Bandar Abbas, home to Iran’s most important container port, lies on the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway between Iran and Oman which handles about a fifth of the world’s seaborne oil. It is also home to the IRGC naval headquarters.