Apartments linked to Iran’s leader put up for sale in London — Asharq Al-Awsat
Two luxury penthouses linked, according to The Sunday Times, to Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei have been put up for sale in London. The properties were purchased by Iranian banker Ali Ansari, whom the US Treasury Department described as a key financier of Khamenei. The sale began after Ansari defaulted on mortgage loans, Asharq Al-Awsat reports.
Penthouses near Kensington Palace
The apartments are located at 3a Palace Green, a prestigious residential complex overlooking Kensington Palace, near the official residence of the Prince and Princess of Wales. Ansari bought both properties in 2014 and 2016 for a total of approximately £36 million.
One of the penthouses, a five-room duplex on the sixth and seventh floors, was bought in 2016 for £19 million. It is now being offered for less than £12 million. The second penthouse, on the seventh and eighth floors, was bought in 2014 for £16.75 million; receivership proceedings have also been launched in relation to it.
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Sanctions against the banker
According to The Sunday Times, British authorities allowed the apartments to be sold after a mortgage default. Private lenders that financed the purchase appointed administrators to recover the debts. The remaining funds after settlements with creditors are expected to be frozen for the duration of sanctions against Ansari.
In July, the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on 57-year-old Ansari, stating that he runs an international network of assets allegedly benefiting Mojtaba Khamenei and other representatives of the Iranian authorities. The US agency also claims that the banker used companies and bank accounts in the United Kingdom, Germany, Luxembourg, Spain, Cyprus and the UAE. Ansari denies these allegations.
The United Kingdom imposed sanctions on him in October 2025, including an asset freeze, a travel ban and disqualification from director positions. The publication also notes that neither Khamenei nor Ansari has been seen at the Palace Green complex since the apartments were purchased.
