Sanctioned Iranian businessman linked to £25m London property empire
An Iranian businessman sanctioned by the U.S. this week for allegedly financing a massive oil-smuggling network owns 25 million British pounds ($33.46 million) in luxury London real estate, newly uncovered property records show.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned Iranian businessman Hossein Ghorbani Zahed as part of a broader package of measures targeting the “illicit shipping and sanctions evasion network” of oil distribution magnate Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that the action against the Shamkhani network, first sanctioned in July 2025, was part of “ongoing efforts to ramp up economic pressure on the Iranian regime after it resumed destabilizing attacks in the Strait of Hormuz.”
Hossein Shamkhani is the son of Ali Shamkhani, a political adviser to Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. His father was killed in U.S. and Israeli airstrikes on Iran in late February that also claimed the lives of Khamenei and other top officials.
Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani previously told Bloomberg that he does not own any oil firms, and only operates in countries “not under sanctions.”
In a press release, OFAC accused Ghorbani Zahed, who also holds a passport from the Commonwealth of Dominica, of being one of several “primary financiers for Shamkhani’s network, providing it with exchange house services including access to foreign currency and shell companies based outside of Iran.”
When reached by phone, Ghorbani Zahed denied OFAC’s accusation and said that while he had previously been “friendly” with Shamkhani, they shared no business ties.
“I’m trying to get the lawyer to talk to OFAC,” Ghorbani Zahed told OCCRP. “I don’t have any relation with [Shamkhani] and I didn’t see him for three years. Yes, I travelled with him, was friendly.”
OFAC also sanctioned two firms Ghorbani Zahed owns, including the British Virgin Islands-registered Golden Nest Group Ltd.
Documents from the U.K. land registry show that Golden Nest Group Ltd owns three luxury apartments in a prime Knightsbridge development. Apartments in the development boast “extensive views taking in iconic London scenes such as Hyde Park and Knightsbridge itself,” a marketing website reads.
Ghorbani Zahed is listed under his Dominican passport as Golden Nest Group Ltd’s beneficial owner in the U.K.’s Register of Overseas Entities. Records show his ownership was first declared in July 2022, shortly after the U.K. introduced the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act. The legislation requires all overseas entities owning property in the country to declare their ultimate beneficial owners.
According to the U.K. land registry documents, which were first obtained by Transparency International UK and shared with OCCRP, Ghorbani Zahed’s firm purchased the luxury apartments in April 2023, paying a total of 25 million pounds.
Speaking to OCCRP, Ghorbani Zahed said he bought the properties “just for myself,” and that he funded the purchases through proceeds from a zinc and copper mine he owns in Iran. He did not provide any further details about the mine, though he claimed it was “selling to the local market.”
In March, OCCRP published an investigation revealing how Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani and his brother Abolfazl Shamkhani used Dominican passports under the aliases ’Hugo’ and ’Sami Hayek’ to hold $29 million in luxury Dubai real estate. While Mohammad’s passport was revoked earlier, Dominica announced soon after the investigation was published that it had revoked Abolfazl Shamkhani’s passport too.
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