Ayatollah Khamenei’s son owns £50million luxury apartments overlooking Israeli embassy in London – as experts warn of ‘serious security breach’
The son of Iran’s recently murdered dictator owned two luxury flats overlooking the Israeli embassy in London, with experts warning of a ‘serious breach of security’ on Saturday night.
Mojtaba Khamenei, who is claimed to be Iran’s new Ayatollah to replace his father Ali Khamenei, owns properties in Kensington, west London, estimated to be worth more than £50 million.
The sixth- and seventh-floor apartments, with servants on the ground floor, are a stone’s throw from Kensington Palace, the official residence of the Prince and Princess of Wales.
Khamenei, 56, is understood to have owned two flats since 2014, but his ownership was only revealed after a year-long investigation by the Bloomberg news channel.
It was revealed that Khamenei also owns a front company registered in the Isle of Man and 11 mansions in Hampstead, North London, through a shell company.
Bloomberg research also revealed that Khamenei owns a property portfolio around the world worth hundreds of millions of pounds.
Funding for the purchases came from Iran’s sanctions-busting oil program. according to the probe.
It has been revealed that Khamenei, one of the leaders of the feared Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), owns two flats overlooking the Israeli embassy building, raising fears that the flats may have been used to spy on the diplomatic mission.
Mojtaba Khamenei, 56 (taken 2019), owns two properties in Kensington, west London, estimated at more than £50 million.
The sixth- and seventh-floor apartments, with servants’ quarters on the ground floor, are a stone’s throw from Kensington Palace (pictured, file photo), the official London residence of the Prince and Princess of Wales.
Khamenei, 56, is the son of Iran’s recently murdered Ayatollah and one of the candidates to replace his father as Supreme Leader. Apparently he has owned two flats since 2014
It comes after four Iranians were arrested in North London early on Friday on suspicion of spying for Iranian intelligence services.
These individuals, an Iranian and British-Iranian duo, are suspected of spying on Jewish ‘places and individuals’.
The locations are thought to be synagogues in London and people may be praying.
A further six people were arrested on suspicion of aiding and abetting a criminal in Harrow, northwest of the capital.
Sources said the six men were not linked to any plan.
The Kensington flats, located less than 50 meters behind the Israeli embassy building, could be used to monitor and photograph staff and visitors, a terrorism and security expert said on Saturday night.
The proximity will allow audio recording of embassy staff’s external conversations in the garden, as well as ‘laser-assisted monitoring of window vibrations to pick up internal conversation’.
The sub-50-meter range would also allow hacking of the embassy’s wireless networks to monitor internet traffic.
Roger Macmillan, a counter-terrorism expert and former security director for Iran’s opposition satellite channel Iran International, said: ‘Iran has a view of the back of the Israeli Embassy from less than 50 metres.
‘Two apartments in direct line of sight of Mojtaba Khamenei. This is not a property portfolio, but a permanent surveillance platform.
‘This is a serious security breach.’
The two flats near the embassy and 11 others on Hampstead’s Bishops Avenue, nicknamed Billionaires’ Row, are worth a total of around £200 million.
Many are thought to be empty and many are thought to be derelict.
They are on a private road called Palace Green, guarded 24 hours a day by police and private security.
Photography is not allowed on the street due to security issues around the embassy and the super elite residents of the street.
According to Bloomberg, the apartments are owned by a trusted front man named Ali Ansari, an Iranian oligarch and close family friend.
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Four Iranians were arrested in North London early Friday on suspicion of spying for Iranian intelligence services. Picture: Police officers at an address in Watford in connection with the arrest operation
These individuals, an Iranian and British-Iranian duo, are suspected of spying on Jewish ‘places and individuals’. Picture: Police at an address in Watford in connection with the arrest operation
They were purchased for £16.7 million and £19 million in 2014 and 2016.
Ansari bought the flats shortly after he was believed to have purchased 11 properties in Hampstead for Khamenei in 2013 for a total of £73 million.
According to title deed and company documents, the Hampstead properties were purchased through a shell company called Birch Ventures Limited, registered in the Isle of Man, whose beneficial owner is Ansari.
A charge has been imposed on all 13 properties, including the Kensington properties, by the Treasury, which has prevented sales since October last year.
The charges were brought after Ansari was approved by the Treasury, which accused him of being a ‘corrupt banker’ who financed the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
The Israeli embassy declined to comment Saturday night.
A spokesperson for Transparency International said: ‘We now know that Iran’s political leaders have invested heavily in the UK over the last 10 years.
‘Failure to establish effective defenses to combat money laundering in the UK has consequences for national security and leaves our financial system vulnerable to hostile leaders, kleptocratic states and friends who finance their own regimes.’
Ansari’s lawyer, Roger Gherson, said: ‘Mr Ansari vehemently denies any financial involvement with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps or the former religious leader’s son.
‘His intention is to appeal the UK Government’s decision to impose sanctions.’
