Iran has denied claims Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has links with two luxury apartments near the Israeli embassy in London, which are reported to be on sale for somewhere in the region of £30 million.
The Iranian Embassy in India has dismissed the reports first made in the Sunday Times, saying they are "completely baseless and lack any credible or reliable evidence."
India Today published a statement from the embassy saying: "Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei, like his esteemed father, owns no property, neither outside Iran nor inside the country. The Iranian people are well aware of his simple and non-ostentatious lifestyle.”
The statement went on to say that such baseless claims were made with the objective of creating "a false image of his life and character" that held no credibility at all in the eyes of Iranians.
It has previously been widely reported that the two residences in Kensington were linked to Khamenei.
The properties, on the sixth and seventh floors of a modern block at Palace Green, sit on the same exclusive street as the Israeli embassy and overlook its rear, less than 50 yards away.
They are also close to Kensington Palace, the official London residence of the Prince and Princess of Wales.
Each apartment includes separate staff quarters and a private roof terrace.
The flats were acquired in 2014 and 2016 for £16.75 million and £19 million respectively (£35.75 million combined) allegedly through Iranian businessman and banker Ali Ansari, who has long been linked to the Khamenei family.
Bloomberg and other media outlets have tied the properties – and a wider London portfolio estimated at around £200 million – to Khamenei, but Ansari has denied the links through his lawyer.
The decision to sell follows UK sanctions imposed on Ansari in late 2025 for allegedly financing the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and supporting hostile Iranian government activities.
More recently, the US Treasury also sanctioned him as a “key financier” for Khamenei, stating that many holdings in his name ultimately benefited the Iranian leader, his family, regime elites, and the IRGC.
After Ansari reportedly defaulted on mortgage payments, British authorities moved to place the properties on the market.
One of the apartments, bought for £19 million in 2016, is now being offered for £12 million.
A description on the Rightmove website says: “Arranged across the sixth and seventh floors of a building that occupies an unrivalled position opposite Kensington Gardens, this five-bedroom penthouse spans approximately 3,944 sq ft, and has extensive terraces with views towards the park and the city skyline.”
The website says that the property has been withdrawn by the agent and anyone seeking further information should contact them directly.
The second, purchased for £16.75 million in 2014, has no public asking price listed.
Britain’s intelligence services are said to have long been aware of the properties.
In March security specialist Roger Macmillan told the Daily Mail that the apartments could be used to monitor and photograph Israeli embassy staff and visitors, enable audio capture of outdoor conversations of embassy personnel, as well as facilitate “laser-assisted monitoring of window vibrations to extract speech from the inside.”
The statement from the Iranian embassy added that the Iranian people continued to support the supreme leader.
It said: "Even now, the Iranian people, because of his simple way of life and the love and affection they have for him, have been taking to the streets for 190 consecutive nights in support of him.”
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