It started with a report that turned out to be false – that the Fujairah port in the United Arab Emirates was burning. That set off aggressive, yet cautious coverage by AP's staff in Dubai, Tehran and Baghdad, bringing facts and unique perspectives to the tense and escalating situation in the Persian Gulf, often well ahead of the competition.
A satellite image provided by Maxar Technologies shows the Saudi-flagged oil tanker Amjad off the coast of Fujairah, United Arab Emirates, May 13, 2019. Gulf officials said four oil tankers were damaged in a “sabotage” attack near Fujairah.
Maxar Technologies via AP
When official word later came that four oil tankers had been damaged in a “sabotage” attack in the water off the UAE, Persian Gulf and Iran News Director Jon Gambrell reached out to sources who provided AP with satellite images. Gambrell knew from previous coverage of Iran’s satellite and missile launches that he needed to quickly secure satellite imagery of the tankers, ensuring that AP’s customers got the details. He also sent his own photos of oil shipping activity off the coast of the UAE.
As tensions between Iran, its neighbors and the United States ratcheted up, Gambrell and Mideast News Director Karin Laub leveraged AP’s resources in the country to report first that Iran had quadrupled its uranium enrichment. A story by New York Health and Science reporter Malcolm Ritter on the science of uranium enrichment complemented the piece.
In Tehran meanwhile, producer Mehdi Fattahi, reporter Nasser Karimi and photographer Vahid Salemi put together a video, photo and text piece on the mood of people on the streets of the capital that could not be matched by a major wire service competitor. The team, which included reporters Qassim Abdul-Zahra and Bassem Mroue in Baghdad, and Karimi in Tehran, was also first to report an FAA warning that Iran could misidentify commercial flights in the region.
An Emirati coast guard vessel passes an oil tanker off the coast of Fujairah, United Arab Emirates, May 13, 2019. Gulf officials said that four tankers were sabotaged near Fujairah in attacks that caused “significant damage” to the vessels.
AP Photo / Jon Gambrell
In a still frame from video by the Iranian state-run IRIB News Agency, Behrouz Kamalvandi, left, spokesman for Iran's atomic energy agency, listens to a man wearing a surgical mask, who was introduced only as an official with the Ahmadi Roshan nuclear site in Natanz, Iran, during a news conference, May 20, 2019. The official said, “The capacity of the country’s enriched product, through some technical modifications, has been increased by nearly four times, without adding any new chains or centrifuges. The design information related to this has been submitted to the International Atomic Energy Agency.”
IRIB News Agency via AP
Worshippers leave at the conclusion of Friday prayers in downtown Tehran, Iran, May 17, 2019.
AP Photo / Vahid Salemi
A woman walks past a mural of the late revolutionary founder Ayatollah Khomeini in Tehran, Iran, May 18, 2019.
AP Photo / Vahid Salemi
Civil servant Masumeh Izadpanah speaks during an interview in downtown Tehran, Iran, May 17, 2019. “When someone keeps trying to scare you it means that they think they are not yet ready for war. When someone really wants war it starts the war right away. Like when Iraq attacked us, all of a sudden bombs were dropped,” she told the AP. “But right now America just says, ‘I’m coming,’ to scare Iran.”
AP Photo / Vahid Salemi
Civil servant Reza Forghani speaks during an interview in downtown Tehran, Iran, May 17 , 2019. He said Iran needed to get the U.S. to “sign a very firm contract that they can't escape and have to honor.” Otherwise, Iran should drop out of the nuclear deal.
AP Photo / Vahid Salemi
A man with his daughter cross Enqelab-e-Eslami (Islamic Revolution) street in downtown Tehran, Iran, May 17, 2019.
AP Photo / Vahid Salemi
A couple takes photos with bas reliefs of ancient Persian soldiers in an old neighborhood in downtown Tehran, Iran, May 18, 2019. The AP spoke to a variety of people on Tehran’s streets recently, ranging from young to old, from women wearing the all-encompassing black chador to those merely loosely covering their hair.
AP Photo / Vahid Salemi
A general view of downtown Tehran, Iran, May 17, 2019.
AP Photo / Vahid Salemi
While the team relied on a variety of resources to report and break news, its restraint in not prematurely reporting that Exxon Mobil had evacuated its staff in the region helped maintain the AP’s credibility.
Many hands worked together for AP’s success. Other important contributors to the coverage were Aya Batrawy, Malak Harb, Fay Abuelgasim, Amir Vahdat, Ebrahim Noroozi, Mohammad Nasiri, Mohsen Ganji and Saeed Sarmadi.
The teams were aggressive on reporting other developments, ensuring that clients had video and text coverage of tweets by President Donald Trump and Iranian officials, as well as closely monitoring the U.S. Department of Defense's DVIDS handout service.
Customers around the globe relied on AP’s coverage, with Al-Jazeera English breaking in to report the AP’s uranium scoop. Both video and text stories proved popular with customers on APNewsroom, on the app and AP’s website.
For smart judgment, planning and effective use of AP’s resources to break news and bring facts to a region on edge, Gambrell, Abdul-Zahra, Fattahi, Mroue, Karimi and Salemi win AP’s Best of the Week, with the support of their colleagues and contributors in the region.