Scott Peterson
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Journalist, The Christian Science Monitor; photographer, Getty Images; author of Let the Swords Encircle Me: Iran–A Journey Behind the Headlines
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Articles by Scott Peterson
‘There were many of them, and the grass was tall’ – 505 nights under Russian fire
Of all his 505 nights under near-constant Russian fire, this was one of the toughest for Ukrainian infantryman Yurii Melnyk. It began with a routine Russian drone and artillery attack on his front-line post. “There was a guy, a young guy … he was very nervous and we tried to calm him down, but he was afraid that he would be killed in that place,” says the soft-spoken machine gunner, whose career making tombstone memorials was diverted by Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
How Ukraine’s long-range drones are changing what’s possible in war with Russia
The secret drone factory in Ukraine is a tightly packed hive of energy that smells of epoxy. Here, engineers use 3D printers, composite materials, and carbon fiber to build the drones for strikes deep inside Russia that are turning the tide of war. Ukraine’s strategic campaign to increasingly target Russian military logistics hubs, energy depots, and refineries with barrages of explosive attack drones has shocked its larger adversary.
Why so many Ukrainians are up in arms over firing of defense minister
The Ukrainian protester looks like many others on Kharkiv’s central square – young and tattooed – who have taken to the streets in the thousands across Ukraine to demand the return of the popular defense minister, Mykhailo Fedorov. Mr. Fedorov, dismissed last week after just six months in office by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, amid a schism with the military’s top brass, has been a key architect of Ukraine’s aggressive campaign of deep-strike drone and cruise missile attacks inside Russia.
Why Ukrainians have taken to the streets to protest a cabinet shuffle
Ukrainians took to the streets Thursday to protest the sacking of the popular Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, after just six months. Mr. Fedorov oversaw Ukraine slowing Russia’s invasion by means of deep-strike attacks inside Russia against energy targets and supply lines, and expansive use of drones on the battlefield, which have been key to turning the tide of the war.
Why Erdoğan’s Turkey is seeing its stock rise in NATO and the Middle East
With the largest land army among European NATO members and a robust defense industry, Turkey under President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has expanded its influence by carefully keeping channels open across key front lines, from the Russia-Ukraine war to the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran. Turkey, which in the years prior to the war in Ukraine had pursued warming ties and arms deals with Moscow, did not condemn Russia’s full-scale 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Did the US-Israeli war against Iran save the Islamic Republic?
Repeated calls for revenge against U.S. President Donald Trump and Israel erupted from mourners Monday as hundreds of thousands marched through Tehran in a funeral procession for Iran’s slain supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Flags were burned, and chants of “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel” echoed repeatedly as the mourners sweltered beneath a cascade of flower petals and sprayed rose water.
In flare-up over Hormuz, a hint at US-Iran rollercoaster to come
The United States and Iran late Sunday pulled back from their escalating attacks over the Strait of Hormuz, a flare-up that had tested a fragile ceasefire and called into question both sides’ desire to avoid a full return to battle.
For Iran, a new ceasefire means big gains. But Trump’s war goals fall short.
The ceasefire deal inked by the United States and Iran on Wednesday, aimed at bringing an end to their costly and destructive war, has been touted a strategic victory by the Islamic Republic – while coming up short on achieving U.S. goals articulated by President Donald Trump. The agreement grants Iran sizable economic incentives in exchange for opening the Strait of Hormuz and for Tehran’s assurances – as it has done for many years – that it will not develop a nuclear weapon.
Caught between war and peace, Iranians live in limbo
Before the war, Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz was an Iranian holiday destination that offered boutique hotels, quaint cafés, and the embrace of a slower, disconnected island lifestyle. “Suddenly, we are living on the front line,” says one Qeshm guesthouse owner in a text message exchange, who could not be named for his security, as he prepared to leave the island Thursday after nine years. It had been another night of blasts and the buzz of drones and fighter jets. “It’s been a nightmare.
After another round of retaliation, Iran and Israel say they will hold off for now
Iran and Israel renewed exchanges of direct fire overnight Sunday, effectively disrupting a fragile two-month ceasefire declared by President Donald Trump and risking a return to full-blown war. The complex chain of tit-for-tat military actions, in Lebanon, and then between Iran and Israel, presented another challenge for Mr. Trump, who repeated his claim on Sunday that a peace deal was within reach.
Ceasefire in name only: Israel expands military campaign in Lebanon
Israel further escalated its long-running war against Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon on Monday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered new airstrikes in Beirut’s Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs, one day after Israel recaptured the 900-year-old Beaufort Castle in southern Lebanon.
Iran’s economy was already struggling. The war has made it far worse.
The economic agony felt by Iranians, after weeks of attacks by the United States and Israel, is measured in soaring prices, lost jobs, and an internet blackout that amplifies the uncertainty around what happens next. “We are hearing that the war is going to resume; this unhinged U.S. president has no idea what exactly he wants,” says Naimeh, a student counselor with green eyes and graying hair in Tehran’s middle-class Aryashahr district, who asked that only her first name be used.
With viral ‘Lego’ videos, Iran stakes claim as a propaganda power player
As part of an overwhelming flow of polished propaganda, Lego-style videos are pouring out of Iran. They’re saturating social media feeds throughout the United States and worldwide with anti-war, pro-Iran messages that cast President Donald Trump as a war criminal who has dragged America into a conflict that it can’t win, on Israel’s behalf. The stream of near-daily videos has brought the Islamic Republic’s point of view directly onto American computer and phone screens like never before.
Under fire from Israel like never before, Lebanon’s first responders are determined to persevere
The Lebanese paramedic makes the pilgrimage every day. He kneels with reverence as he delivers a message at the grave of his son, an assistant rescuer killed in late March by an Israeli drone. “You went as a hero, my child – you chose that way,” says Mohammed Suleiman, whispering the words of mourning.
After massive Israeli attacks, how is Hezbollah still fighting?
Each day, the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia uses social media channels to trumpet its steady stream of attacks against Israeli military forces now occupying southern Lebanon, and beyond, into northern Israel. The Hezbollah posts, some accompanied by drone’s-eye videos of its attacks, list precise timings and locations of the strikes, one after another, using a “swarm of loitering drones” or rocket salvos.
Is our home safe? Is it rubble? For displaced Lebanese, anguished uncertainty.
Displaced by war but hungry for home, Faiz Hilal’s family squeezed into their decades-old car and drove from relative safety in eastern Lebanon to their apartment near the southern Lebanese port city of Tyre – only to find their street wrecked by Israeli airstrikes. They were undeterred by the piles of rubble and mangled metal, and cleared a dust-free path through the ground-floor car park. They hung their washing lines, and made one room habitable for their family of six.
Amid extended ceasefire, Lebanon assesses high cost of Israel-Hezbollah war
Along Ain al-Mreisseh’s breezy waterfront avenue, which Beirut residents fill daily with walkers and runners breathing the fresh sea air, the neighborhood exudes a carefree confidence. “All the people here are friendly, and all are very calm. They walk their dogs and go to exercise,” says Abdallah Mdeik, the manager of an old six-story building, half a block up from the water.
Amid ceasefire in Lebanon, a rush home – if it’s reachable and still there
The 10-day ceasefire in Lebanon brokered by the White House after 46 days of war has, since Friday, lessened Israeli bombardments and lowered attacks by Iran-backed Hezbollah fighters. Lebanese residents reacted to the news with celebrations and flag-waving, then were on the move.
In Iran, the regime has indeed changed: It’s less restrained, more hard-line
Every night, thousands of fervent, flag-waving supporters of Iran’s Islamic Republic take to the streets to vent vitriolic rage at their American and Israeli attackers. They celebrate surviving 40 days of war, a fragile ceasefire, and now negotiations in which they believe Iran has the upper hand.
Despite war, Iran’s machinery of intimidation keeps protesters at bay
The video clip, taken one recent night in western Tehran, shows a man in plainclothes pointing an assault rifle with a green laser sight high up a tall residential building. From the upper floors, anti-regime chants are heard calling for the death of Iran’s new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Basij militia – the same forces that killed thousands of Iranian protesters during a crackdown in January.
Iranian rulers fought to survive. They found leverage en route to an endgame.
From his rostrum, Iran’s military spokesman adopted a decidedly mocking tone, ridiculing the American and Israeli enemy as “those who prefer fleeing over standing their ground, those same masters of consecutive defeats, who ... see fear in every one of their cells.” Then, Ebrahim Zolfaghari – wearing a camouflage Revolutionary Guard Corps uniform and sporting a trimmed black beard and slicked-back hair – switched from Farsi to English to bait President Donald Trump. “Hey, Trump.
Why Hezbollah fighters are embracing an unpopular and costly war with Israel
The Hezbollah special forces fighter could be any Lebanese man in Beirut’s southern suburbs. Stocky and with a reddish beard and short hair, he is clad in civilian clothes to avoid detection from the Israeli drones that fly constantly overhead. But this Hezbollah veteran is part of a leaner and more potent Iran-backed force that he says is committed to a long-awaited “final battle” against Israel – opening a second front as the United States and Israel attack Hezbollah’s patron, Iran.
Caught between unremitting attack and unyielding regime, Iranians try to cope
Every night, Iranian university student Alireza falls asleep staring at his mobile phone, desperate for news about how the joint U.S.-Israeli military onslaught is impacting his country and upending his life. And almost every night, the computer science major has nightmares about the risks and uncertainties of a war that has pounded Iran with more than 15,000 airstrikes in 18 days, with no end in sight.
How Iran is trying to end war with US and Israel on its own terms
After 13 days under relentless U.S. and Israeli attack, Iran’s military and security forces are degraded, its navy largely sunk, and its longtime supreme leader and top military officers assassinated. But the Islamic Republic shows no sign of collapse and refuses to capitulate.
Scott Free: My honor came with layers of joy
When the announcement came months ago that I would be inducted into the Wisconsin Newspaper Hall of Fame, I broke the news to both of my sons. Immediately, they had the same response. Thank you for reading Unlock the rest of the article with a subscription. Your support keeps the good stuff coming. Subscribe now for full access to local reporting, breaking news, and more.
Signaling defiance, Iran’s regime rallies around a younger Khamenei
Despite 10 days of heavy and furiously paced U.S. and Israeli airstrikes on Iran with the declared aim of regime change, the Islamic Republic early Monday signaled defiant continuity by choosing a new supreme leader in wartime. Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei is the son of the slain hard-line supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who led Iran with the official title of “God’s Deputy on Earth” for 37 years. He was assassinated in Israel’s first strike of the war.
Iran’s regime faces historic threat, but it’s not lacking in confidence
The Islamic Republic of Iran, enduring waves of U.S. and Israeli military strikes, is seeking to project confidence, continuity, and defiance as it navigates its own survival through the most dangerous threat to its existence in its 47-year history. That confidence is not bravado, analysts say, but deeply felt.
Iranian student: ‘Isn’t it ironic that we want war on our own country?’
The Iranian university student had risked his life in protests in Tehran for regime change, so when news broke of the first waves of American and Israeli strikes in late February, he felt shock – and overwhelming disbelief. “I was having breakfast and checking my phone without concentration. My eyes popped out when I saw news about the attack: That was it, the very moment I had been longing for,” recalls the civil engineering student. He gave the name Mohammad, a pseudonym, for security reasons.
Iran retaliates for killing of supreme leader, threatening regional security
Iran on Sunday attempted to exact a heavy price on the United States, Israel, and Washington’s Arab allies over the killing of Iran’s supreme leader. Hundreds of Iranian missiles and drones rained down on U.S. bases, embassies, Western businesses, airports, hotels, and residential buildings in Gulf countries, Jordan, and Israel. Air-defense systems prevented widespread casualties, but the attacks that succeeded exacted significant damage, including the conflict’s first American casualties.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei: Death of Iran's leader marks turning point for Islamic Republic
Defiant to the end, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed Saturday in the first targeted strikes of a broad American and Israeli military campaign designed to topple the Islamic Republic and destroy its nuclear and missile capabilities.
US and Israel launch broad campaign against Iran
Choosing war over diplomacy on Iran, the United States and Israel launched waves of airstrikes against military and civilian targets in cities across the Islamic Republic on Saturday. The first U.S.-Israeli strikes came at 9:45 a.m. local time in Tehran. Iran’s supreme leader’s complex and offices of the president and Supreme National Security Council – among a multitude of missile and nuclear targets across the country – were targeted, according to reports.
‘This regime cannot get away with its crimes.’ An Iranian student speaks.
The risks are great – and could even be deadly – for Iranian civil engineering student Mohammad, as he daily joins thousands of university students for anti-regime protests that have erupted once more, despite the deadliest crackdown on dissent in the history of the Islamic Republic.
Ultimatum vs. resistance: Why US and Iran are talking past each other
As Iran and the United States prepare for a third round of talks in Geneva Thursday, a candid comment by the chief American negotiator, Steve Witkoff, underscores the depth of reciprocal misreadings that is keeping both sides far apart.
When governments pull the plug on dissent, citizens from Iran to Uganda fight to stay online
After the Jan. 3 ouster of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, paramilitary groups loyal to the deposed leader’s political movement began randomly stopping people on the streets of the capital, Caracas. They were searching for a type of contraband notoriously common in Venezuela – a virtual private network, or VPN. Often installed as software on a cellphone, a VPN masks a user’s location, allowing that person to bypass government restrictions that keep large swaths of the internet blocked here.
Purdue basketball vs. Indiana start time, where to watch, predictions on Friday, Feb. 20 Original
The Indiana Hoosiers can improve their NCAA Tournament positioning against the Purdue Boilermakers. • Both teams are coming off convincing losses to national top 10-ranked teams. Indiana (17-9, 8-7 Big Ten) and No. 7 Purdue (21-5, 11-4) seek bounce-back wins when they meet for the second time this season. The Hoosiers — who hold a precarious position in recent bracketology predictions — lost handily to Illinois last weekend, while top-ranked Michigan handled the Boilermakers on Tuesday.
Progress but not compromise as latest U.S.-Iran nuclear talks end
A second round of talks between Iran and the United States in Geneva Feb. 17 over Tehran’s nuclear program yielded agreement on “guiding principles,” according to Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, but there were few signs of compromise from either side. Mr. Araghchi said “the path for a deal has started,” and that draft proposals would be exchanged before setting a date for a third round.
On anniversary of revolution, has brutality broken Iran’s social contract?
The young Iranian man with chiseled features and thick, sculpted hair was passionate about watches, taught his parents watchmaking, and dreamed one day of running his own watch gallery in Tehran. Family videos show Ali Manouchehr-Abadi smiling while holding a cake at a party. In a studio portrait, he wears a confident look – and a shirt depicting medieval Islamic warriors, a clear tribute to past Persian glory and identity. But Mr. Manouchehr-Abadi’s bright future came to an abrupt end on Jan. 8.
A weakened Iran and a flexing America maneuver in run-up to pivotal talks
Top American and Iranian negotiators are due to begin talks Friday in Oman after a nearly nine-month hiatus, during which dramatic events on the ground have transformed the strategic playing field in Washington’s favor – and against Iran’s. Beneath the shadow of a significant U.S. military build-up aimed at Iran, there are raised expectations at the White House that it can impose a maximalist deal.
As US forces build in Middle East, Trump and Iran are locked in a staredown
American military forces are building in the Middle East daily, arriving on a threat from U.S. President Donald Trump Wednesday that “time is running out” for Iran to do a deal, or face military action from a “massive armada.” Iran’s leadership, still smarting from Israeli and U.S. strikes last June, is trying to find its feet after a crackdown on nationwide anti-regime protests this month left thousands dead.
After thousands died in crackdown, Iran is trying to change the narrative
The way Iranian state television journalist Fatemeh Faramarzi describes it, the violence she witnessed at the peak of Iran’s latest street protests – including her face being sprayed with shotgun pellets – could only have been carried out by “terrorists” guided by foreign hands. She was speaking to the IRIB channel’s prime-time “Eyewitness” program.
In Iran, witness accounts of atrocities counter regime claims of calm
The Iranian mechanical engineer hadn’t slept for days, fearful his masked presence at the peak of anti-regime protests last week would prompt his arrest at home at any moment. Still in shock, his voice shaking and sometimes choking with emotion, he describes over the phone what he witnessed in Tehran of the Iranian government security forces’ lethal crackdown on protests that had swept the country.
Seeing an ‘existential’ struggle, Iran cracks down hard on protests
With antigovernment protests sweeping Iran, and reports emerging on Sunday of an increasingly lethal crackdown, the government in Tehran appears locked into a campaign of intimidation and threats directed at internal critics and foreign adversaries. The regime’s response to intensifying public unrest has been unprecedented both in breadth and depth.
Dissent at home, threats from abroad. Iran faces ‘war on two fronts.’
The events in Iran Tuesday, on the 10th day of widening protests that began over the economy, showcase the severity of the dual challenges now facing the Islamic Republic after 47 years in power – and how it might react to the pressure. As the value of the Iranian currency fell to a record low, security forces used tear gas to disperse a sit-in at the Grand Bazaar in Tehran.
Indiana basketball vs. Maryland game live updates tonight: Start time, how to watch, radio
Jan. 7, 2026, 3:30 p.m. ET Indiana basketball (11-3, 2-1) visits Maryland (7-7, 0-3) in Big Ten action tonight. The Hoosiers have won three straight games and the Terrapins, who are missing their best player, have lost four of five. We will have live updates ad highlights, so please remember to refresh. What time does Indiana basketball play Maryland tonight, Jan. 7? Start time for Indiana basketball vs Maryland tonight, Jan. 7 The Indiana-Maryland game is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. ET Wednesday, Jan.
In Lebanon, Hezbollah’s true believers are battered, yes, but unbowed
The Hezbollah martyrs’ cemetery is perched high on the edge of the hilltop hamlet of Mahrouna, with commanding views across the tree-lined hills and ravines of southern Lebanon toward the border of Hezbollah’s perennial enemy, Israel. There is no sadness in the voice of Yehya Naameh Khalil, only pride, as he speaks about his son who is buried here – a Hezbollah unit commander called Hassan, with chiseled features and a steely-eyed look, who died in an Israeli strike in May 2024.
Amid destruction, a determination to live
Already a subscriber? Log in Already have a subscription? Activate it Ready for constructive world news? Join the Monitor community. Subscribe Every time I go to Ukraine, I come across scenes of yet more extraordinary human resilience. | Scott Peterson/Getty Images/The Christian Science Monitor KHARKIV, UKRAINE: A Ukrainian firefighter takes a break from battling a blaze at a food warehouse caused by two Russian ballistic missiles in a midday strike, July 30. Dec.
‘Finding a window of hope’: Lebanon’s community holds strong amid ceasefire
One year ago, there appeared no end in sight to Israel’s escalating military campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon, with constant airstrikes forcing tens of thousands of Lebanese to flee their homes. As displaced Lebanese flooded into safe Beirut districts and southern coastal cities, their fellow citizens crossed sectarian lines and swung into action to feed and shelter them, with a community spirit well-honed by previous wars and disasters.
To project power, and disarm Hezbollah, Lebanese state needs guns and butter
The military checkpoint south of Sidon is flanked by armored vehicles mounted with machine guns and concrete blocks painted in the colors of the red and white Lebanese flag, with a green cedar tree. That’s like any other Lebanese Army checkpoint in southern Lebanon.
As Israel keeps striking, Lebanese grapple with a ceasefire that isn’t
The six missiles fired by an Israeli drone last week precisely perforated the walls of a Beirut apartment, blasting out two floors that rained car-crushing debris on the streets below and killing Hezbollah’s top military commander, Haytham Ali Tabatabai.
In the fields and in the streets, Ukrainians fight to stay motivated
When 11th grader Kostia thinks about his fellow Ukrainians’ will to keep fighting back against Russia, his mind goes to the final dance at his school last year. Teachers were looking for 10th grade boys as fill-ins to accompany the graduating 11th grade girls to the dance.
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