After his stint as a Middle East correspondent working on Iran issues for
The Christian Science Monitor in
Amman, then as Moscow Bureau Chief, Scott Petersen started work as the Bureau Chief in
Istanbul. Besides, he also works as a photographer for
Getty Images. His work across three continents spanning over two decades, reporting and photographing on "power and conflict" presented in coherent narratives, has made him one of the most experienced and widely traveled foreign correspondent of his time. His extensive travels to Iran, crossing more than 30 times, produced his book, Let the Swords Encircle Me: Iran—A Journey Behind the Headlines (Simon & Schuster, Sept. 2010), based on Iran's politics, history, and culture. The book was awarded as one of the "Best Books of 2010" by Publishers Weekly. During his career as a photo-journalist, he has covered,
Algiers,
Beirut, and the entire
Russia and the
Central Asia. In 1999, he had to travel with the
Taliban in
Afghanistan. During his assignment in
Iraq at the time of the
Kurdish Revolt in 1991, he had to flee the country with more than a million Kurds when the resistance army was defeated at the hands of
Saddam Hussein's forces. In 2002, Scott's work in Northern Iraq won him the "Citation of Excellence" award from the
Overseas Press Club of America. He also worked for The Daily Telegraph (London) covering the
Former Yugoslavia on conflicts in
Bosnia,
Kosovo, and
Serbia. ==Personal==