Scott Peterson covers the Middle East for the Monitor from London, with a special focus on Iran, Iraq, and Syria. A well-traveled and experienced foreign correspondent who is also a photographer for Getty Images in New York, he has reported and photographed conflict and powerful human narratives across three continents for more than two decades.
Scott first joined the Monitor in 1996 as the Middle East correspondent, based in Amman, Jordan, then became the Moscow bureau chief. During those years, his coverage stretched from Algiers to Beirut to Tehran, later extending to Russia and Central Asia. In Afghanistan he traveled with the Taliban in 1999, and later was witness to their collapse when Kabul fell in 2001.
He has made 30 visits to Iran, which form the backbone of his book "Let the Swords Encircle Me: Iran 鈥� A Journey Behind the Headlines鈥� (Simon & Schuster, 2010). He has also frequently reported from Iraq, first during the 1991 Kurdish uprising, when he secretly crossed the border from Turkey, before being forced to flee across the mountains with more than a million Kurds 鈥� and a handful of fellow journalists 鈥� when Saddam Hussein鈥檚 armed forces crushed the resistance.
Since 1997, he has traveled often to Baghdad, except for a two-year period when he was blacklisted by the former regime. He was embedded for one month with US Marines during their November 2004 assault on Fallujah. Prior to joining the Monitor, Scott covered the 1991 Persian Gulf War, Africa, and the Balkans for The Telegraph (London) and was based in Cyprus; Nairobi, Kenya; and Zagreb, Croatia.
Scott is the author of 鈥淢e Against My Brother: At War in Somalia, Sudan, and Rwanda鈥� (Routledge, 2000), about his work in war zones in Africa during six years in the 1990s. It is based on more than 50 trips to Somalia and long forays into Rwanda during the 1994 genocide.
You can read more about Scott's work on .
Stories by Scott Peterson
- After another round of retaliation, Iran and Israel say they will hold off for now
- Ceasefire in name only: Israel expands military campaign in Lebanon
- Iran鈥檚 economy was already struggling. The war has made it far worse.
- From the Magazine With viral 鈥楲ego鈥� videos, Iran stakes claim as a propaganda power player
- Under fire from Israel like never before, Lebanon鈥檚 first responders are determined to persevere
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