Corriere della Sera sheds light on a network of luxury properties linked to the Iranian leadership family in London, which may have been used for espionage purposes. The article focuses on the assets of Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran's new supreme leader, and how they were acquired through networks of intermediaries and offshore companies.
According to reports, Mojtaba Khamenei controls a property portfolio in the British capital worth around 250 million euros.
These include 11 luxury villas in the Hampstead neighborhood, a very exclusive area of London known as "Billionaires' Row", as well as two luxury apartments near the royal residence Kensington Palace, where Prince William and Kate Middleton live.
But what has raised the most concerns among intelligence services is the fact that these two apartments are located less than 50 meters from the Israeli embassy in London.
According to a Bloomberg investigation, they were purchased between 2014 and 2016 with funds allegedly coming from Iranian oil revenues obtained in circumvention of international sanctions. Officially, the properties are registered in the name of Ali Ansari, an Iranian oligarch and close friend of the Khamenei family, who allegedly acted as a “figurehead owner” for the transactions.
The two apartments near Kensington Palace are now valued at around €60 million. They were purchased shortly after the purchase of 11 villas in Hampstead in 2013 through a shell company registered in the Isle of Man. The ultimate beneficiary of the company was Ali Ansari himself.
The British government has frozen these assets after Ansari was placed under sanctions over suspicions of funding Iran's Revolutionary Guard.
However, the main intelligence concern relates to the two apartments that directly overlook the Israeli embassy.
From these positions, according to security experts, it would be possible to photograph people entering and leaving the embassy, listen to conversations in its garden, and even monitor internet traffic.
"This is not just a property portfolio, but a permanent surveillance platform," a security source was quoted as saying by the Daily Mail.
Concerns have been heightened by a recent development in London: just a few days ago, four Iranian nationals with British passports were arrested on suspicion of spying on Jewish community facilities and figures, particularly synagogues in the city. Authorities suspect that their activity may have been part of preparations for an anti-Semitic attack in retaliation for Israeli-American airstrikes on Iran.