Loan From UK-Israeli Firm Funded Mojtaba Khamenei's London Homes: Report

Iran's new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei used a 36 million UK pounds loan from a company owned by British-Israeli businessmen to help finance the purchase of luxury homes in London, according to a joint investigation by Israeli watchdog outlet Shomrim and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.

The 2013 loan was issued to a company registered in the Isle of Man, at a time when the Iranians involved were not under sanctions. The funds helped acquire properties spanning more than 20 dunams (about five acres) on Bishops Avenue in north London, per YNet Global.

The financing was arranged through a subsidiary of LJ Partnership and backed by Topland Jupiter Limited, which secured the loan against 12 London homes used as collateral. The loan was repaid in September 2015.Topland later described the deal as successful but did not mention the Isle of Man company that received the loan. The loan was repaid in September 2015.

Topland Jupiter is part of the Topland Group, founded by brothers Sol Zakay and Eddie Zakay, whose combined wealth was estimated by The Sunday Times at $3.6 billion in 2025. The firm that arranged the loan is now part of AITI, which said the inquiries relate to “historical activities of LJ Partnership” and that the current company “was not involved and has no connection to historical activities conducted by previous entities,” as per YNet Global.

Investigators also found that LJ Partnership continued working with companies linked to Iranian businessman Ali Ansari. In 2018, it provided another loan to Ansari-linked firm Ziba Leisure, again using the same properties as collateral, as per The Jerusalem Post.

The two luxury apartments overlooking the Israeli Embassy in London, bought in 2014 and 2016 for 35.7 million UK Pounds combined, have been linked to Khamenei through Ali Ansari, a Cypriot citizen.

A separate Bloomberg investigation reported that Khamenei built a vast overseas investment network despite US sanctions imposed in 2019, moving funds through shell companies and accounts in Britain, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and the UAE.

British authorities sanctioned Ansari last October, describing him as a “corrupt Iranian banker and businessman” who financed the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Ansari denies any connection to Khamenei.