Today, November 12, marks the 15th anniversary of the martyrdom of Hassan Tehrani Moqaddam, the father of Iran’s missile program and one of the most influential military strategists in the country’s modern history.

A pioneering military commander and weapons developer, Tehrani Moqaddam played a central role in transforming Iran’s missile capabilities from a largely dependent and limited system into an indigenous strategic program.

His pioneering vision, technical ingenuity and ironclad determination laid the foundations for an industry that continues to shape Iran’s military deterrence today, especially in the face of unprovoked and illegal wars of aggression.

Born in 1959 in Sarcheshmeh, a neighborhood in central Tehran, Tehrani Moqaddam completed his secondary education in 1977. He went on to study mechanical engineering at Sharif University of Technology, earning his bachelor’s degree in 1979, before obtaining a master’s degree in industrial engineering from Khajeh Nasir al-Din Toosi University two years later.

His military career began in the aftermath of the 1979 Islamic Revolution. At the age of 21, he joined the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), serving in its intelligence division in northern Iran as a young officer.

It was during the Baathist Iraqi-imposed war against Iran that his strategic thinking and technical ambitions began to take shape. The experience of fighting a better-equipped adversary exposed serious weaknesses in Iran’s artillery and fire-support capabilities, prompting him to seek ways of strengthening the country’s military infrastructure.

Following the successful Samen-ol-A’emeh operation in 1981, which broke the Iraqi siege of Abadan in southwestern Khuzestan Province, Tehrani Moqaddam recognized the urgent and critical need to improve artillery support for Iranian forces on the battlefield.

He developed a proposal to address the shortage and submitted it to Hassan Bagheri, who was then head of the IRGC’s intelligence division. The initiative led to the establishment of the IRGC Artillery Corps and an artillery research center in the city of Ahvaz, marking an important step in the development of Iran’s indigenous military capabilities.

Tehrani Moqaddam subsequently emerged as one of the principal figures behind the development of the IRGC’s artillery units. Under his inspiring leadership, Iranian forces began employing different artillery systems and ammunition, including 155mm and 130mm shells, as well as Portuguese-made 105mm ammunition.

Building Iran’s missile capabilities

The mid-1980s marked a turning point in Iran’s military development. The Iraqi regime, supported militarily by Western powers, increasingly resorted to missile attacks against Iranian cities, exposing Tehran’s vulnerability in the face of a growing ballistic missile threat.

At the time, Iran had limited access to missile technology and depended heavily on a small number of foreign partners to acquire the necessary equipment and expertise.

Tehrani Moqaddam saw the growing threat not simply as a battlefield challenge but as a strategic imperative for Iran to develop an independent missile capability. Drawing on technology and experience acquired from abroad, he helped establish the foundations of a domestic missile program within the IRGC.

Under his supervision, Iran successfully launched its first missile at the Iraqi city of Kirkuk in March 1985. Subsequent strikes targeted strategic locations in Baghdad, including an 18-story bank building and an Iraqi army officers’ club. Iranian accounts of the retaliatory campaign say the latter strike killed around 200 Baathist military commanders.

In 1986, Tehrani Moqaddam was appointed commander of the IRGC Air Force’s missile unit. His responsibilities extended beyond Iran’s borders, and he also played a role in establishing the first missile unit of the Lebanese Hezbollah resistance movement.

During the final two years of the war, he oversaw the development of the Nazeat and Oghab systems, among Iran’s earliest domestically developed tactical ballistic missiles and rocket artillery platforms. These projects represented an important departure from reliance on imported weaponry and provided the technical experience needed for more advanced missile systems.

The Nazeat, with an approximate range of 100 kilometers, and the Oghab, with a range of around 45 kilometers, became important milestones in Iran’s early missile development.

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From wartime necessity to strategic deterrence

The end of the eight-year imposed war did not bring an end to Tehrani Moqaddam’s pathbreaking work. Instead, he continued pursuing the objective of building a more sophisticated and self-reliant missile industry.

His efforts contributed to the development of successive generations of Iranian missiles, with improvements in range, accuracy, payload capacity and technological sophistication.

The Shahab and Zelzal missile families were among the prominent products of this period of development. Iran subsequently expanded its capabilities to include more advanced medium-range ballistic missiles, with systems such as Ashura and Sejjil emerging in the following years.

This evolution reflected a broader transformation in Iran’s military strategy. Having experienced the consequences of dependence on foreign suppliers during wartime, Tehran increasingly prioritized domestic research, engineering and manufacturing in the defence sector.

Over the following decades, Iran developed a diverse missile arsenal encompassing ballistic and cruise missiles, as well as systems designed for different operational ranges and battlefield requirements.

The country’s missile and space programs have since become important components of its strategic deterrence doctrine, reflecting the foundations laid by Tehrani Moqaddam and the generation of engineers and military personnel who worked alongside him.

His legacy is particularly evident in Iran’s emphasis on indigenous research and technological self-sufficiency, principles that have remained central to its defence-industrial strategy.

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An enduring legacy

Tehrani Moqaddam was martyred on November 12, 2011, alongside 16 other members of his team in an explosion at the Amir al-Mu’minin garrison in Malard, west of Tehran.

The explosion destroyed a building at the military facility used for storing missile-related munitions

His death was a major loss for Iran’s military establishment, particularly its missile development program. Tehrani Moqaddam and his fallen comrades were laid to rest with state honours at Tehran’s Behesht-e Zahra cemetery.

More than a decade after his martyrdom, Tehrani Moqaddam’s legacy continues to shape Iran’s military and technological development.

His mission was carried forward by his contemporaries, including General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, who was martyred during the 12-day war in June 2025 amid US-Israeli aggression against Iran. Hajizadeh was succeeded by Brigadier General Majid Mousavi, whom Tehrani Moqaddam held in high regard and praised during his lifetime.

At a commemorative ceremony in Tehran in 2023, General Mousavi paid glowing tribute to his late commander and recalled a message that had accompanied a photograph published shortly after his death.

“In the days following the martyrdom of Hassan Tehrani Moqaddam, a picture of him was published with a thought-provoking sentence underneath. Perhaps at that time, no one paid much attention to this sentence, but now it has become very meaningful,” Mousavi said.

He recalled the words accompanying the photograph: “Martyr Hassan Tehrani Moqaddam is a nightmare for the Zionist regime forever.”

Mousavi said subsequent developments across the region had given the statement renewed significance, linking Tehrani Moqaddam’s legacy to the capabilities of Iran and the resistance front.

For Iran, his martyrdom anniversary is not merely an occasion to remember a military commander. It is also an opportunity to reflect on the evolution of a defence program that emerged from the pressures of an imposed war and developed into a central pillar of the country’s strategic posture.

The missile and space capabilities Iran has built over the decades stand as a lasting part of Tehrani Moqaddam’s legacy.

His defining contribution was not simply the development of individual weapons systems, but the pursuit of a broader vision: a defence industry built on domestic expertise, technological independence and the ability to deter external threats.

The great commander's illustrious legacy was vividly reflected in the two recent imposed wars, during which Iran used the missile capabilities he helped develop to inflict significant damage on enemy military infrastructure, challenging the long-held myth of US-Israeli military invincibility.