How the Iranian regime infiltrated London’s ultra-exclusive property market: Ayatollah’s cronies snapped up capital’s most lavish mansions together with on ‘Billionaires’ Row’
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Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s cronies have allegedly snapped up some of London’s most lavish mansions as part of a multi-million pound shopping spree.
It has emerged that multiple senior figures in Iran‘s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp (IRGC) own mansions in some of London’s most exclusive neighbourhoods.
Nestled between family homes and independent schools in leafy Hampstead, St John’s Wood and Kensington the regime’s network of cronies bought acres of land through shell companies and intermediaries.
This includes mansions on The Bishops Avenue in Hampstead also known as Billionaire’s Row.
Labelled a corrupt banker by the UK government last year Ali Aliakbar Ansari is accused of funding ‘hostile activity’ carried out by the IRGC bought 11 palatial properties in 2013 for £73million.
He purchased the mansions via Birch Ventures Limited based in the tax haven The Isle of Man and has since let the properties fall into a state of disrepair.
A year later the now sanctioned Ansari bought a 1.2 acre newbuild property for £33.7million and in 2017 purchased a flat in one of the street’s gated developments for £8.1million.
Pictured: The Bishops Avenue in it’s glory days when Princess Diana could be spotted on her way to visit the home of the last King of Greece – Constantine II
Corrupt banker Ali Aliakbar Ansari, accused of funding ‘hostile activity’ carried out by the IRGC bought 11 properties in 2013 for £73million
Pictured: The Towers one of Ansari’s properties on Billionaire’s Row, which was ravaged by a fire, destroying the roof, windows and parts of the building
Pictured: Toprak House a mansion that helped give The Bishops Avenue the nickname ‘Billionaire’s Row’ – it is not owned by Ansari
Each transaction on the street once frequented by Princess Diana has been considered a stain on its pristine legacy – with the road now resembling a dumping ground.
Meanwhile, a western intelligence assessment has claimed that Mojtaba Khamenei, the dead Ayatollah’s son who is tipped to become the next supreme leader, was involved in the transactions.
It is believed he had Ansari purchase and manage his personal property portfolio, including those on The Bishops Avenue.
And it wasn’t just Hampstead that Ansari and Khamenei sunk their claws into.
Two high-end apartments were also acquired in a mansion block a stones throw away from Kensington Palace.
The duo responsible for turning what was once the most sought-after street in London into a ‘ghost town’ are a stark example of how IRGC members invested in properties but failed to maintain them.
The extravagant purchases were however encouraged by industry leaders at the time, who appeared to actively facilitate the ‘dodgy’ Iranians.
In 2016, sanctions were lifted after the Iran nuclear deal was brokered.
Becky Fatemi, of luxury property agency Rokstone, said at the time: ‘Without a doubt the new political thaw will generate a significant flow of wealthy Iranian families looking for homes in London and the Home Counties.
‘The new generation will be rich business people who have done well in Republican Iran. It’s a whole new generation and outlook.’
While the dealings of Ansari are the most ostentatious example, sources have claimed St Johns Wood is also a hotspot for ‘duplicitous’ homeowners.
Many credit the suburbs proximity to The School of the Islamic Republic of Iran – a site used to entice millionaires by leading estate agents Foxtons.
Pictured: Mojtaba Khamenei, the dead Ayatollah’s son who is tipped to become the next supreme leader
Pictured: The Bishops Avenue also known as Billionaire’s Row
Pictured: Foxtons advertising St John’s Woods’ proximity to The School of the Islamic Republic of Iran
The Daily Mail can also disclose that Reza Samizadeh, who was at one point the CEO of Iran Mall – the Tehran shopping centre funded by Ali Ansari’s Ayandeh Bank – occupied a property owned by The Crown Estate.
Samizadeh was appointed as director of IMCC Europe Limited in 2016, a shell company connected to past associates of sanctioned Ansari.
The correspondence was listed as a million-pound apartment in Kensington on the Palace Green, a short walk to Kensington Gardens.
While most Iranian buyers have been able to fly under the radar, property experts believe that the longer the war rages, more homes will be abandoned exposing their owners.
The situation has been likened to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which saw Oligarch-owned properties in some of London’s most affluent areas disintegrate.
‘You never know the volume of ownership because most of them are in convoluted purchase structures,’ Henry Sherwood founder of The Buying Agents told the Daily Mail.
‘But in terms of all the sanctioned lists, it will be the same as what happened with Russia, the owners literally cannot do anything. Nothing can be done.’
So if the 2016 Iranian property boom is anything to go by then the £1billion worth of housing bought may start to crumble before our eyes, and Billionaire’s Row will be the least of our worries.
Ali Ansari has previously denied working as a conduit for Khamenei and that he plans to challenge the government’s sanctions.
Becky Fatemi and the Crown Estate have been contacted for comment.
