A property on The Bishops Avenue in London, listed as being owned by a company called Birch Ventures.
Photographer: Jose Sarmento Matos/BloombergHow the Son of Iran’s Supreme Leader Built a Global Property Empire
Mojtaba Khamenei has amassed sprawling international investments, while economic hardship at home has sparked Iran's deadliest protests in decades.
(This story originally ran in January 2026.)
On a tree-lined street in north London, known as “Billionaire’s Row,” a clutch of mostly empty mansions sit behind tall hedges and blacked-out gates. As school children wander by, private guards in dark SUVs patrol outside.
Behind the facades of these luxury homes on The Bishops Avenue lies a network stretching from Tehran to Dubai and Frankfurt. The ultimate ownership traces back, through layers of shell companies, to one of the most powerful men in the Middle East: Mojtaba Khamenei, the second-eldest son of Iran’s Supreme Leader.