Fresh allegations surrounding luxury real estate in London have revived scrutiny of how Iran’s political elite are linked to overseas wealth, even as the country faces deep economic distress and widespread repression at home.
A year-long investigation by Bloomberg reported that Mojtaba Khamenei, son of Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei, is connected through intermediaries to a network of high-value properties in the United Kingdom and across Europe. Separate reporting by the Daily Mail said 11 properties on The Bishops Avenue in north London, often referred to as Billionaires’ Row, are valued at more than £100 million and are linked to the same circle through offshore structures.
The reports highlight a broader pattern in which politically exposed wealth is transferred abroad through complex ownership arrangements designed to reduce transparency, limit legal exposure and convert political power into long-term asset security.
Investigations cited by Bloomberg point to the use of shell companies and offshore registrations to obscure beneficial ownership. One entity named in the reporting, Birch Ventures Limited, is registered in the Isle of Man, reflecting a structure commonly used to separate public ownership records from real beneficiaries.
A central figure in the reporting is Ali Aliakbar Ansari, who was sanctioned by the UK government in October 2025. British authorities described him as a corrupt Iranian banker and businessman and linked the designation to alleged financial support for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Separate reporting by the Financial Times said Ansari built a substantial European property portfolio through offshore vehicles, while parts of his London assets were frozen under the UK sanctions regime.
Ansari has also been linked to Ayandeh Bank, whose collapse has been cited internationally as an example of how regime-connected finance can deepen domestic economic strain while shielding insiders.
The timing of the property allegations has coincided with severe unrest and a heavy security crackdown inside Iran. While independent verification remains difficult, international media and rights groups have reported large casualty figures, highlighting the contrast between hardship for ordinary citizens and financial security for elite-linked assets held abroad.
Western sanctions can restrict access to financial systems and freeze assets, but they do not dismantle the domestic structures that generate politically protected wealth. Control over key sectors, opaque financial practices and political immunity continue to underpin the system that allows capital to be transferred overseas.
Iranian opposition groups argue that lasting solutions lie in internal political change rather than foreign military action or limited diplomatic pressure. Their position centres on the claim that the same power networks linked to overseas assets also sustain the domestic security apparatus and regional operations.
For policymakers, the issue extends beyond individual properties to the wider link between financial safe havens, domestic repression and regional security. For many Iranians, the allegations reinforce a deeper question about how long a system can endure when national wealth appears to be privatised by a ruling circle and protected abroad, while the wider population bears the economic and human cost.
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