Close Encounter With Iranians

A war photo a day #22

Close Encounter With Iranians Close Encounter With Iranians

Uncategorized August 29, 2013

David Axe photo Close Encounter With Iranians A war photo a day #22 Eight years. Seven wars. More death and destruction than I care... Close Encounter With Iranians
David Axe photo

Close Encounter With Iranians

A war photo a day #22

Eight years. Seven wars. More death and destruction than I care to recount. I’ve been covering armed conflict since 2005. Every battlefield has its stories … and its unforgettable images. Follow me through my career at war, one jarring, haunting or sublime photo a day until I run out.

In mid-2009 the international war on piracy was escalating fast. I embarked on the destroyer USS Donald Cook in the Gulf of Aden as the 500-foot vessel sailed slow circles, hoping to run into some pirates.

Instead the warship ran into Iranians, in the form of an Iranian navy supply ship silently sailing in international waters. I snapped a photo of Donald Cook Capt. Derek Granger (off duty with his cigar) and his sailors keeping watch on the Iranian vessel as it slipped past, a haunting reminder that pirates weren’t the only possible threats.

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