Hassan Tehrani Moghaddam

After the Iran–Iraq War (1980–1988), as Iran had only non-native Scud missiles with an operational range limited to 300 kilometers, Moghaddam set up a long-range missile program and designed a number of different missiles. His immediate goal was to develop a ballistic missile program with an operational range of more than 2,000 kilometers that could hugely threaten Israel. Mostafa Izadi, a commander in the Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution and close friend of Moghaddam said, "Since 1984 [Moghaddam] pioneered the IRGC's ground to ground missile system ... the work which has so frightened the world's imperialist powers and the Zionist regime today."

The Bid Kaneh arsenal explosion was a very large explosion that occurred on 12 November 2011 at the missile garrison of Modares. Seventeen members of the Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were killed in the incident, among them the father of Iran's missile program. Those who died are known as the "Shahidan Ghadir".

In 2008, Moghaddam developed and designed with the help of North Korea the first range of Iranian solid-fueled ballistic missiles known as the Sejjil. The Sejjil replaced the Shahab liquid-fueled ballistic missiles. According to US Pentagon sources, the missile profile of the Sejjil closely matches those of the Ashura (Ghadr-110) and Samen missiles. The Sejjil launch tests on 13 November 2008 displayed an operational range of 2,000–2,500 kilometers. Subsequent to this Moghaddam was the chief designer of the Shahab, Ghadr, and Sejjil missiles.

At first, Moghaddam designed missiles that were reverse-engineered from Russian made Scud missiles. He produced the Shahab-1 from the Scud-B, and then developed the Shahab-2 and the Zelzal missiles (Zelzal-1, Zelzal-2, and Zelzal-3). In 1998, from the Scud-C he developed the Shahab-3, which is a medium-range ballistic missile with an operational range of 2,000 kilometers. It was tested between 1998 and 2003 and was added to Iran's military arsenal on 7 July 2003, with an official unveiling by Ayatollah Khamenei on 20 July of the same year. Moghaddam later improved the Shahab-3 and developed a new version of this missile called Ghadr-110, which has a range of 1,800–2,000 kilometers and is also known as the Ghadr-101.

Moghaddam took part in the 1979 Iranian Revolution. In 1980, he joined the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and was given special responsibility for information in the northern section of Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution. He had important roles in the Iran–Iraq War as follows:

Hassan Tehrani Moghaddam (Persian: حسن تهرانی مقدم ‎) (29 October 1959 – 12 November 2011) was an Iranian military officer in the Aerospace Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and designer of Iran's ballistic missile project. He was the chief of the Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. He founded Iran's long-range missile program and sought the expertise and blueprint designs from North Korea in order to help develop Iran's missile technology. He designed the Shahab, Ghadr and Sejjil missiles with an operational range of more than 1,000–2,000 kilometres to target Israel. For these reasons he is regarded as the father of Iran's missile program. He was killed on 12 November 2011 in the Bid Kaneh explosion, at a military base belonging to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps 25 miles west of Iran's capital, Tehran.

Tehrani Moghaddam was born on 29 October 1959 in Tehran. In 1977, he graduated from high school. In 1979, he received a bachelor's in Mechanical Engineering from Sharif University of Technology. In 1981, he received his MSc degree in Aerospace Engineering from K.N. Toosi University of Technology.