An IRGC-affiliated the source acknowledged for the first time that Seyed Yehia Hosseini Panjaki, the Iranian deputy intelligence minister killed in the opening strike of Operation Roaring Lion, personally commanded the Khanzala cyber group. The post was later deleted. Panjaki oversaw cyber operations that hacked the phones of Israel's chief of staff, a former prime minister, and the FBI director, among others, according to Israeli security sources.
At 23:05 on Wednesday, an IRGC-affiliated intelligence channel acknowledged for the first time that Seyed Yehia Hosseini Panjaki — the deputy Iranian intelligence minister killed in the opening strike of Operation Roaring Lion — personally commanded the Khanzala cyber group. The post was deleted shortly afterward, as reported by Israeli analyst Or Fialkov. This admission came two days after the first unverified reports of Panjaki's death and marks the most direct Iranian acknowledgment of his role.
The story has developed rapidly across Wednesday evening. The earliest reports, at 23:05 Jerusalem, were unverified and misidentified the group name as "Bandarla." Within the same hour, an IRGC-linked source confirmed Panjaki as the commander of Khanzala, the group responsible for hacking the phones of senior Israeli officials — including former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi — and exfiltrating their data. Subsequent versions identified Panjaki as deputy chief of internal security at Iran's intelligence ministry, a position under U.S. Treasury sanctions since September 2024. By the end of Wednesday, Iran state-affiliated reports officially confirmed his death, though the specific acknowledgment that he commanded Khanzala came only now, from the IRGC channel's deleted post.
As The Zioneer's profile of Panjaki reported on Thursday, June 25, he served as deputy intelligence minister and head of the Israel desk, overseeing kidnappings, sabotage, and assassinations against Iranian regime opponents and Israeli targets worldwide. The U.S. Treasury had imposed sanctions on him in September 2024, designating him as deputy minister and linking him to murder conspiracies in the West. The IDF has taken responsibility for the precision strike on the Iranian intelligence ministry headquarters that killed him.
The IRGC channel's admission confirms Panjaki's command of Khanzala, though the post has been deleted. The broader extent of his portfolio — and whether additional Iranian officials are acknowledging or denying his role — remains unverified. No official Iranian government statement has addressed the deleted post.
8 developments
- DevelopingIranian Cyber Group Claims It Exposed Kurdish Militant Arsenals to IRGC
- DevelopingHacker group Khanzala says it passed coordinates of US forces in Gulf to IRGC
- StrongHacker group Khanzala says joint cyber-IRGC response against 'the enemy' imminent
- StrongIranian hacker group Khanzala claims it disrupted US military strike waves electronically
Source and signal
- Internal intake