Eliyahu Yossian was born in the Iranian city of Isfahan in 1980. After completing 12 years of education in Muslim schools, he went on to study civil engineering at the University of Kashan. In 2003 he immigrated to Israel, where he served in the IDF’s prestigious Unit 8200 and worked in intelligence, and he was later awarded the Israel Defense Award. He also has a master’s in Middle Eastern Studies for the Security Forces from Bar-Ilan University.

How do you think Iran will respond to the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh?
I think that’s the wrong question to ask, because the last time something like that happened, we sat with our arms folded waiting for them to send their drones and missiles. The Iranians have now changed the status quo. They issued a statement that from now on, every assassination will be answered by drones and missiles from Iran itself, and apparently they’re going to take responsibility for it as well. The mistake of Israel’s policy is that it’s passive, which we cannot allow to happen. We have to adopt an active policy. Israel must be on a footing of attack.

In your opinion, how should Israel have responded last time?
Last time, I was in Channel 14’s studio at two in the morning doing live reports on the rockets that were being launched at Israel from Iran. At the time, I said that we had to destroy all of their oil and gas fields, and I also explained why. Doing so would have put an end to 80% of the Iranian regime’s income. If they didn’t have money, they wouldn’t be able to pay their citizens’ salaries, which would lead to major protests and serious internal unrest. Not being able to pay salaries would also mean not being able to pay the Revolutionary Guards or the Quds Force, so they wouldn’t be able to quell the protests. They also wouldn’t be able to fund the various terrorist organizations on their payroll, including Hezbollah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Houthis. They would be hit hard from every direction. Russia wouldn’t object to such attacks because they would then be able to sell their own oil and gas at higher prices, which they would produce more of to meet the demand. And Saudi Arabia wouldn’t protest for the same reason.

Perhaps Israel was afraid to do that because it would invite retaliation against its own gas fields.
It is that same attitude that has led us to a policy of passivity. If there are concerns, they have to be addressed head-on by the Iron Dome, the Arrow antiballistic missile interceptor or anything else that would help protect the gas fields. It’s when we don’t act that leads to your question about how Iran is going to respond, as if we’re just supposed to sit here and wait. You are correct in saying that attacking Iran comes with concerns, but the solution is to deal with them.

Does Israel really have an answer to everything that Iran and Hezbollah can throw at us?
You included Hezbollah in your question, and I will address that first. The enemy isn’t Hezbollah but Lebanon. The enemy isn’t the Houthis but Yemen. The enemy isn’t Hashd al-Shaabi but Iraq. The moment the Israeli government understands that if Hezbollah attacks us they have to destroy Beirut, along with Lebanon’s gas fields, oil fields, electricity grid, water supply, trains and airports, they will reach a very quick conclusion to the war.

How was Israel able to have such precise intelligence in Iran?
Israel is in the top ten countries globally when it comes to harvesting intelligence.

But it’s shocking to see the contrast between what they’ve been able to do in Iran and the weak intelligence they had in Gaza before October 7.
They didn’t have weak intelligence in Gaza. Before October 7, all of the information in connection with Gaza and the coming attack was on the desks of the intelligence organizations. The problem was that they didn’t take it seriously.

Is Israel relying on Iranian collaborators and the opposition when it comes to planning such operations?
Of course. Even former Iranian Presidents Ahmadinejad and Khatami admitted publicly that there are Israeli collaborators in the highest echelons of power in the Iranian government and military.

Is it possible that those collaborators are the ones who carry out the Israeli attacks on Iranian territory rather than the Israelis?
It’s absolutely possible. Don’t forget that there are large minorities in Iran such as Sunni Kurds and Sunni Arabs, and there are many people who oppose the regime and work in government offices.

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