A spring day arrives early in Mallorca, and a 20-meter Sunseeker yacht is anchoring maneuvers off the idyllic coast of Camp de Mar. The beachfront hotels are still closed, with their umbrellas folded and the loungers stacked in a corner, like decks of cards waiting for the summer dealer. A team of builders and gardeners is finishing maintenance work before Easter.
A shirtless man jogs along the shore, and a group of pensioners prepares for a walk, sweating sunscreen. At the taxi stand, four drivers pass the idle time of a morning without work discussing the cost of living: "My father with a salary of 25,000 pesetas could buy a flat... tell me now."
Camp de Mar is a predominantly tourist town located in the west of the island, in the region of Ponent. It is an oasis for foreigners and high-income vacationers that was urbanized in the 90s and flourished around the project to build a golf course. The almond trees gave way to the grass of the green.
In summer, a legion of bathers daily visit its beach, a beautiful natural monument with an islet included. In winter, golfers and Germans who have their second residence there take refuge from the European climate in their super luxury villas and hotels. Today, mansions are being sold for up to 20 million euros.
In the vicinity of the area, for example, the supermodel Claudia Schiffer used to vacation, and today the family of race car driver Michael Schumacher resides there, who after his fateful accident bought the house from Florentino Pérez, president of Real Madrid.
It is in this select corner of the Mediterranean where an international journalistic investigation has now focused, connecting it through the trail of opaque money with the Iranian theocratic regime of the ayatollahs, the fundamentalism that has been imposing Sharia with an iron fist for half a century and is now at war with the United States.
According to revelations from the Financial Times and Bloomberg, the new Mojtaba Jamenei himself, recently anointed supreme leader of Iran after his father's execution, "wounded but alive" according to Iranian propaganda, is the alleged owner - through individuals and intermediary companies - of one of the largest and most exclusive buildings in Camp de Mar.
This is the complex that houses a luxury five-star hotel and resort, the Steigenberger Hotel & Resort Camp de Mar, currently managed by a German hotel chain that is a long-term lessee, and therefore not involved in the ownership attributed by media investigations to the Iranian network.
Staying in one of its 164 rooms can cost over 400 euros per night in high season. It is not surprising: the establishment, which was operated by another German company until 2015, has all kinds of amenities and spectacular facilities, designed by one of the most famous architects on the island. Its architecture blends Mediterranean villa style with elements of Moorish inspiration.
The entrance is flanked by two stone lions, and in the courtyard that welcomes guests stands an obelisk with the inscribed names of great figures from human history (Buddha, Roosevelt, Le Corbusier, Rubén Darío, Gaudí...).
Pilates, yoga, and meditation classes are offered on-site, and golf is just steps away from the rooms. Without leaving the complex, you can rent a Porsche 911 Turbo for 399 euros per day or a four-and-a-half-hour excursion in a sports car with sunset and dinner included for 500 euros. High-end German vehicles are available for rent, such as Porsche, BMW, or the impressive 430-horsepower Mercedes AMG GT-R.
The garden is perfectly maintained. Throughout the complex, there is a silence that invites calm and disconnection, only interrupted by lawnmowers putting the grass in order.
The international press put Camp de Mar on the map of Iranian tentacles last January, before the outbreak of the war and the launch of Operation Epic Fury carried out by the United States and Israel.
The British newspaper Financial Times revealed at that time that a banker close to the ayatollahs' regime, Ali Ansari, had woven a network of real estate investments in Europe valued at 400 million euros.
The properties include from the golf resort in Mallorca to a ski hotel in the exclusive Kitzbühel resort in Austria. Also, two hotels in Frankfurt operated by Hilton, thirteen mansions in London - in an area known as Billionaires' Row - and the Bero Oberhausen shopping center in northwest Germany, valued at 68 million euros.
According to corporate documents mentioned by the Financial Times, the property network was hidden behind a structure of offshore and front companies with tax headquarters in Luxembourg, Germany, and the Caribbean tax haven of Saint Kitts and Nevis.
The investment network culminated in a corporate holding company called Smart Global Limited.
Ansari was sanctioned by the UK in October 2025 after the collapse of the bank founded by his family, Ayandeh Bank, and was accused of financing "hostile activities" of the Iranian military elite, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard.
Authorities labeled him as a corrupt banker and froze investments and real estate portfolios in London worth 150 million pounds.
His lawyers have "firmly" denied the connection he is accused of and any financial relationship with the Revolutionary Guard that supports the Jamenei clan and the Iranian regime. They also announced that they would legally fight against those accusations.
These initial reports from the British economic press about Ansari's alleged hidden real estate empire have recently been complemented by revelations from other international media, such as the New York-based Bloomberg, which go a step further and point to the new Iranian leader Mojtaba Jamenei as the person who would actually be behind those investments channeled through the banker, with whom the new Iranian supreme leader would have had a relationship since the 80s.
In response to these reports, the German chain that operates the hotel, the RIMC Hotels & Resorts Group, has wanted to step forward to distance itself from the ownership and those alleged connections and regret that the issue damages its reputation.
In a statement provided by the company in response to inquiries from this newspaper, the hotel chain emphasizes that "as the hotel operator, we have no relationship" with the individuals mentioned in the journalistic investigations and that they are "neither involved nor informed about the facts in question."
RIMC Hotels & Resorts also highlights in its official statement that their lessor is a Spanish company called Royal Hotel Camp de Mar SA and that "the lessor has expressly assured and confirmed to us that Mr. Ali Ansari is not a partner of the lessor."
In any case, they add, "we do not have additional information or any involvement in the facts currently published, so we are not in a position to assess them."
This supplement also contacted the hotel management in Mallorca, who personally endorsed the company's explanation and stated that the hotel's operations continue as usual.
The hotel chain regrets that the issue and the international press coverage may cause reputational damage, especially after some global online booking platforms, such as Booking, have independently closed their booking systems.
In defense of their work, the chain also sends a message to their customers: "our hotel continues to represent the highest quality of service, professionalism, and a warm welcome in Mallorca."
Despite these alleged tentacles now revealed, the Khamenei name remains a phantom in the peaceful streets of Camp de Mar.
The residents and workers of the development are mostly unaware of these hidden and frenetic veins traced beneath their feet by the liquid flow of money. Many haven't noticed and continue with their routines as if nothing were amiss. Others have heard rumors, but they aren't surprised.
007 and Iberian Ham
"I've heard something, yes, but I have no idea," a regular at Mesón El Quijote, one of the area's best-known bars, tells Crónica. The bar has a framed photo of Pierce Brosnan on its walls. There—as evidenced by the newspaper clipping on the wall—the actor who played James Bond indulged in Iberian ham. He was in the area filming A Long Way Down and stopped for a bite to eat at the bar.
"We don't know anything about all the goings-on, only what they want us to know," says one of the maintenance workers at Camp de Mar, standing a few meters from the inn. He recalls the time when the resort was a much more secluded place. "There used to be an estate here, an almond grove, then they built the golf course and all this," he reminisces, gesturing to the surrounding area.
An electronic music festival was held by the beach these past few days. Kiko Navarro, a well-known DJ from the Balearic scene with international reach, a regular at Pacha nightclubs, was spinning.
Beyond the international headlines and the shadow of Khamenei, the season is in full swing in this privileged, hedonistic, and secular corner of the Spanish Mediterranean.
Beach, golf, and electronic music. Convertibles, money. And even an actor who played the most famous fictional Western spy eating Iberian ham: nothing could be further from the supposedly pious life of an ayatollah.