Iran’s next supreme leader owns properties worth £100 million along a road known as “Billionaire’s Row” in north London, as well as two overlooking the Israeli embassy, according to an investigation.
Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the opening salvoes of Operation Roaring Lion, is reported to own 11 properties on The Bishops Avenue, an exclusive street in Hampstead.
A year-long probe by Bloomberg News alleges Mojtaba, 56, owns the houses through a network of shell companies.
One company was allegedly used to buy a £73m portfolio of 12 derelict mansions on The Bishops Avenue, in 2013, their estimated value now is around £100m.
The same investigation also found that he owns two apartments in Palace Green, Kensington, on the same street as Israel’s UK embassy.
Counter-terrorism specialist Roger MacMillan told the Daily Mail that the flats have a “direct line of sight” to the embassy building, calling them “a permanent surveillance platform” and “a serious security breach”.
Bloomberg said it had spoken to sources and seen documents that link the London properties to Khamenei.
It said its findings were based on interviews with people who have direct knowledge of Khamenei’s financial dealings, as well as a review of real estate records and confidential business documents.
Farzin Nadimi, a senior fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, who has studied the Khamenei family’s finances in depth told the channel: “Mojtaba has major stakes or de facto control in various entities throughout Iran and abroad.”
Khamenei, second son of the late Ayatollah, is seen as a hardline conservative figure with deep links to the IRGC.
There were initial reports that he died in the same air strike which killed his father but on Wednesday Reuters quoted a source saying: “He (Mojtaba) is alive ... he was not in Tehran when the supreme leader was killed.”
To get more Israel news, click here to sign up for our free Israel Briefing newsletter.