{"id":815767,"date":"2026-03-10T03:22:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T03:22:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/815767\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T03:22:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T03:22:13","slug":"irans-new-leader-linked-to-35-m-london-flats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/815767\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran\u2019s new leader linked to \u00a335 m. London flats"},"content":{"rendered":"

The new Iranian<\/a> supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, bought two high-cost apartments in London right next to the Israeli embassy<\/a>, costing \u00a335 million, The Telegraph reported on Monday.<\/p>\n

The real estate products were allegedly bought with the help of Ali Ansari, 57, an Iranian banker connected to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The apartments’ acquisition was dated from 2014 and 2016, when Ansari bought them on behalf of Mojtaba Khamenei, the Telegraph reported.<\/p>\n

The banker was sanctioned by the British government in October 2025, accused of financing the IRGC. Framed as corrupt by the British government, Ansari had his assets frozen and was banned from traveling to the UK, the Telegraph noted.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday we are announcing sanctions against corrupt Iranian banker and businessman, Ali Aliakbar Ansari, for his role in financially supporting the activities of the IRGC,\u201d said Hamish Falconer, the minister for the Middle East at the time Ansari was sanctioned.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Israeli Embassy in London places its flag at half-mast to commemorate the victims of the Meron stampede that took place on Lag Ba’omer 2021. (credit: FOREIGN MINISTRY)<\/p>\n

\u201cThis designation sends a clear message \u2013 we will not tolerate threats from the IRGC and will not hesitate to take the most effective measures against them,\u201d Falconer added.<\/p>\n

According to Bloomberg, Ansari was \u201cvital” to the deals.<\/p>\n

Together, both apartments have an approximate value of \u00a350 million, located next door to the Israeli embassy in Kensington Palace Gardens, The Telegraph reported.<\/p>\n

Roger Gherson, Ansari\u2019s lawyer, said, \u201cMr. Ansari, in response to damaging allegations in the international media, vehemently denies any financial relationship with Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps or the new supreme leader.”<\/p>\n

Mojtaba Khamenei’s rise shatters facade of ‘moderate’ Iran<\/strong><\/p>\n

The discovery of the new ayatollah’s properties came right after Mojtaba Khamenei was elected to the role of Iran’s supreme leader<\/a> on Sunday, marking a watershed moment in the history of the Islamic Republic.<\/p>\n

For decades, experts say, 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\u2019s power structures.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

“This is kingship. This is like royal succession. It\u2019s the ultimate sign of dictatorship,” she explained, noting the historical irony for a nation that overthrew a monarchy 45 years ago.<\/p>\n

Amichai Stein contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The new Iranian supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, bought two high-cost apartments in London right next to the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":815768,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[7757],"tags":[20842,748,393,4884,774,81673,208902,257,235123,3715,14532,16,15],"class_list":["post-815767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-london","tag-apartments","tag-britain","tag-england","tag-great-britain","tag-iran","tag-irgc","tag-islamic-republic","tag-london","tag-mojtaba-khamenei","tag-real-estate","tag-tehran","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116202736553104229","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815767","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=815767"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815767\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/815768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=815767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=815767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=815767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}