Two luxury apartments linked to Iran’s Leader Mojtaba Khamenei in London have been put up for sale when an Iranian banker, believed to be the leader’s frontman, defaults on mortgages after being sanctioned by the US, The Sunday Times reported. The luxury London penthouses, bought by banker Ali Ansari in 2014 and 2016 for a combined £36 million, are located at 3a Palace Green, in an exclusive development overlooking Kensington Palace and close to the official residence of the Prince and Princess of Wales, according to the report. Mojtaba Khamenei, 56, was appointed Iran’s supreme leader in February after his father and predecessor, Ali, was killed in the opening strikes of the US-Israeli war with Iran on February 28. Mojtaba has not been seen or heard publicly, rendering his current condition and circumstances unknown. In July, Ansari, 57, was sanctioned by the US Treasury as Khamenei's “key financier.” The treasury said that Ansari “oversees a sprawling global network of assets benefiting Iran's leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, and other regime elites.” The Treasury also accused the Iranian businessman of using numerous shell companies and bank accounts across several jurisdictions to build an overseas portfolio of real estate and commercial interests. It said the network stretched across Britain, Germany, Luxembourg, Spain, Cyprus and the UAE and alleged that many of the financial interests held in Ansari’s name were ultimately for the benefit of Khamenei, his family, other Iranian elites and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). Ansari denies the accusations. Britain had sanctioned Ansari in October 2025, imposing an asset freeze, travel ban and director disqualification after accusing him of financially supporting IRGC activities. The British sanctions came days after Ayandeh, the private bank Ansari’s family set up in Iran more than a decade ago, was dissolved by Iran's central bank due to longstanding debts and regulatory issues. The state-owned Melli Bank has absorbed the bank’s assets. Founded in 2012, Ayandeh Bank had a network of 270 branches across the country. But it had been crippled by debt, with accumulated losses amounting to the equivalent of about $5.2 billion and roughly $2.9 billion in debts. The Sunday Times reported that the British government authorized the two properties to be sold after Ansari defaulted on their mortgages. Private lenders who financed the purchases have appointed receivers to recover what they are owed. Any money left after the lenders are repaid is expected to be frozen while Ansari remains under sanctions, according to the newspaper. One of the properties is a five-bedroom duplex that spreads across the sixth and seventh floor. Originally purchased in 2016 for £19 million, it is now being offered for just under £12 million, according to the report. The second penthouse, spread over the seventh and eighth floors of the same building, was bought for £16.75 million in 2014 and has also entered receivership. The Sunday Times said since the purchase of both apartments, neither Khamenei nor Ansari have been sighted at the Palace Green development. Last year, The Sunday Times revealed that Ansari had quietly amassed a property portfolio worth more than £140 million across London's most elite districts, including several properties on The Bishops Avenue in Hampstead, valued at £73 million and a £33.7 million mansion on an exclusive London street.
