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The FBI announced it took down four websites facilitating Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) hacking efforts. The DOJ says these efforts were tied to “psychological operations and transnational repression."
Handala said in a post on its website Friday that the seizures were "desperate attempts by the United States and its allies to silence the voice of Handala."
Handala Hack, was tracked by Check Point Research as an Iranian threat actor that is known for multiple destructive wiping attacks combined with “hack and leak” operations. The group has several online personas, one of the most prominent among them being HomeLand Justice during a 2022 cyber attack on the Government of Albania.
The group, which first appeared in late December 2023, first drew attention this month after claiming attacks on Verifone and Stryker, two major US companies it framed as retaliation targets because of their ties to Israel.
The FBI’s investigation revealed that the email account Handala_Team@outlook[.]com was used to send death threats to Iranian dissidents and journalists living in the United States and Canada. In the email, Handala Hack offered bounties and openly called for Mexican cartel “partners” to commit acts of violence against their targets.
The email issued a $250,000 bounty death threat against former Ontario Member of Provincial Parliament Goldie Ghamari, which directed the CJNG, Jalisco New Generation Cartel, to behead her at her Ottawa home.
The email issued a $250,000 bounty death threat against former Ontario Member of Provincial Parliament Goldie Ghamari, which directed the CJNG, Jalisco New Generation Cartel, to behead her at her Ottawa home.
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Online Death Threats
On March 1, 2026, the Handala_Team@outlook[.]com account was used to email two victims, located in the United States and abroad. In an email with the subject line “Death to Elica le Bon and Goldie Ghamari.” the sender wrote:
"We the Handala Hack team, the loyal followers of the supreme leader Ali Hosseini Khamenei, declare war on all the enemies of Islam in the West. Our partners, the CJNG cartel in America and Canada have been given a list of our enemies who are responsible for our great leaders death. Elica le Bon and Goldie Ghamari, you laughed like hyenas and called for war on our great leader during the Piers Morgan show. We have hacked and revealed your home addresses in LA and Ottawa to our partners in the CJNG who are in California and Ontario now. Both of you will be executed soon, and we have offered a reward of $250000 for the operatives who kills and beheads both of you. ALLAHU AKBAR"
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Ghamari, a former Progressive Conservative member of provincial parliament for Carleton who since leaving office has become one of the most prominent Iranian-Canadian voices publicly condemning the Islamic Republic.
Ghamari’s family had fled to Canada when she was only a year old in 1986, after an assassination attempt on her father in Iran.
Ghamari said that she has tuned out much of the online rhetoric against her, focusing instead on “being a voice for people in occupied Iran.”
“I have a very successful YouTube channel. I livestream every day in English, and the purpose of the channel is to raise awareness about what’s happening in occupied Iran [and] this is obviously a threat to the Islamic regime. It does not like the fact that people are learning the truth, and so it is trying to attack me,” she said.
The use of the CJNG as an execution proxy for Iranian intelligence represents a documented escalation in the operational relationship between the Islamic Republic and Latin American criminal organizations.
“There are longstanding money-laundering and trafficking ecosystems that connect Latin American cartels, Iranian state-aligned networks and global criminal finance.”
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US "Mafia" Plot Foiled
Earlier this month, Asif Raza Merchant was convicted of conspiracy to murder for hire and attempting to commit an act of terrorism transcending national boundaries. Merchant was a trained operative of the Iranian government’s global terrorist force, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Merchant admitted at trial that the IRGC sent him to the United States to arrange for political assassinations and steal documents, but law enforcement foiled the plot before any attack could be carried out. Merchant arrived in the United States in April of 2024, met with purported hitmen in June who were in fact undercover U.S. law enforcement officers in New York posing as American Mafia members and was placed under arrest before leaving the country in July of 2024.
Merchant admitted that he began working for the IRGC in Pakistan in late 2022 or early 2023, when he received training in tradecraft, including countersurveillance. Later in 2023, he was sent to the United States to look for potential IRGC recruits who could stay behind in the United States. Merchant testified that he knew that the IRGC was a designated terrorist organization. Throughout this period, Merchant repeatedly traveled to Iran to meet with his IRGC handler.
Merchant testified that in 2024, he was sent back to the United States with a new mission: to recruit “Mafia” members to steal documents, stage a protest, and arrange the murder of one of three specific U.S. government officials and politicians. To that end, Merchant contacted an acquaintance in New York who he thought could help him with his scheme. That person, Nadeem Ali, instead reported Merchant’s conduct to law enforcement and became a confidential source.
In early June, Merchant met Ali in New York and explained his assassination plot. Merchant told Ali that he had an ongoing opportunity for him and then made a “finger gun” motion with his hand, indicating that the opportunity was related to a killing. Merchant further stated that the intended victims would be “targeted here,” in the United States. Merchant instructed Ali to arrange meetings with individuals whom Merchant could hire to carry out these actions.
Merchant admitted that he began working for the IRGC in Pakistan in late 2022 or early 2023, when he received training in tradecraft, including countersurveillance. Later in 2023, he was sent to the United States to look for potential IRGC recruits who could stay behind in the United States. Merchant testified that he knew that the IRGC was a designated terrorist organization. Throughout this period, Merchant repeatedly traveled to Iran to meet with his IRGC handler.
Merchant testified that in 2024, he was sent back to the United States with a new mission: to recruit “Mafia” members to steal documents, stage a protest, and arrange the murder of one of three specific U.S. government officials and politicians. To that end, Merchant contacted an acquaintance in New York who he thought could help him with his scheme. That person, Nadeem Ali, instead reported Merchant’s conduct to law enforcement and became a confidential source.
In early June, Merchant met Ali in New York and explained his assassination plot. Merchant told Ali that he had an ongoing opportunity for him and then made a “finger gun” motion with his hand, indicating that the opportunity was related to a killing. Merchant further stated that the intended victims would be “targeted here,” in the United States. Merchant instructed Ali to arrange meetings with individuals whom Merchant could hire to carry out these actions.
“Merchant, a trained Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps operative, entered the United States intending to commit acts of terror, and ultimately, to facilitate the assassination of U.S. government officials, including President Trump,” said Assistant Attorney General for National security John A. Eisenberg. “Merchant’s plot struck at the heart of our democracy and our commitment to the rule of law. NSD remains committed to defending our Nation from the pernicious threat of terrorism.”
“Iran’s terrorist regime sent Asif Merchant here to sow mayhem and murder,” stated United States Attorney Nocella for the Eastern District of New York. “Thanks to the vigilance of our law enforcement partners, his scheme ended in failure. Today, with Merchant’s conviction, that failure is complete. This Office will always remain vigilant in our mission to protect the United States from foreign terrorist adversaries.”
“Iran’s terrorist regime sent Asif Merchant here to sow mayhem and murder,” stated United States Attorney Nocella for the Eastern District of New York. “Thanks to the vigilance of our law enforcement partners, his scheme ended in failure. Today, with Merchant’s conviction, that failure is complete. This Office will always remain vigilant in our mission to protect the United States from foreign terrorist adversaries.”
Iran's Criminal Group Connections
In recent years, with heavy sanctions and intelligence agencies tracking Iranian movements; the regime has contracted out to several criminal organizations for procuring weapons and to assassinate dissidents on foreign soil, including the US. Several of these organizations have connections to Iran and terror groups such as Hezbollah through the underground money exchange network known as Hawala.Kinahan Cartel
In 2015, a man was shot dead in the Netherlands, he had been living in hiding for over two decades. The person who coordinated the hit from Iran was arrested in a Dublin safehouse belonging to the Kinahans.
It is also said that the Kinahans, having been sanctioned as well have been laundering drug money through Iranian banks.
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Last year, Daniel Kinahan and his father Christy Sr. were spotted at a live MMA event in Dubai. Daniel was photographed with former UFC fighter Mounir Lazzez.
Lazzez has been the director of two companies that have purchased oil tankers in recent years sanctioned by the US for transporting oil linked to Iran and Hezbollah.
Hells Angels Canada
Recently, the US charged several men, including a full patch member of the Hells Angels based in British Columbia, Canada, with conspiring with high-level Iranian drug trafficker Naji Zindashti, to have a dissident and their spouse killed in Maryland.
Russian Thieves-In-Law
A similar conspiracy went a step further when police stopped a man near the New York home of journalist Masih Alinejad, who is critical of Iran and a woman's rights activist. He had an AK-47 in the car and had been contracted by Rafat Amirov, known as "Rome," a known member of Russian organized crime from the Czech Republic.
Recently, the US charged several men, including a full patch member of the Hells Angels based in British Columbia, Canada, with conspiring with high-level Iranian drug trafficker Naji Zindashti, to have a dissident and their spouse killed in Maryland.
Russian Thieves-In-Law
A similar conspiracy went a step further when police stopped a man near the New York home of journalist Masih Alinejad, who is critical of Iran and a woman's rights activist. He had an AK-47 in the car and had been contracted by Rafat Amirov, known as "Rome," a known member of Russian organized crime from the Czech Republic.
White Appreciated Boy Here- Can they worry about what's going on in their cuntry instead?..I'm sure there are more "Allahy Akbar's" to come soon instead...who's making them feel superior and confident now...this is truly an embarrassment ...
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