The Dictatorship

Iran’s political prisoners are in extreme danger. Here’s why that matters.

Published

2 months ago

March 9, 2026

Mar. 8, 2026, 6:00 AM EDT

ByCaroline Modarressy-Tehrani

As U.S. and Israeli airstrikes intensify across Iranpolitical prisoners held in some of the country’s most notorious facilities are facing an acute and immediate threat. These prisoners include those in academics, activists, labor unionists, students and teachers — essentially the building blocks and brain trust of a future Iran free from theocracy.

Yet while the Trump administration has called upon Iranians to “rise up” and take back their country, the administration has yet to articulate how it will safeguard these prisoners from being collateral in the war.

U.S. strikes have already targeted police stations, intelligence offices and detention centers, putting the very Iranians who could be a part of any regime-less Iran at risk. The Trump administration considers these legitimate targets, and many of these detention centers do indeed house Basij, the thug-like militia group that terrorizes ordinary Iranians daily, and members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC.

However, human rights activists are sounding the alarm at the actions, explaining that these prisoners are now caught between the apparatus of the brutal regime and the machinery of foreign-led war with no consistently articulated goal.

There are several reports from family members of prisoners that their loved ones have been moved into government-run facilities, providing the regime with human shields, and adding to the risk that a U.S. strike looking to decapitate more of the regime’s functionality will inadvertently kill political prisoners.

Hadi Ghaemi, the founder of the Center for Human Rights in Iran, or CHRI, told me this week on my podcast, “High-Key with CMT,” that many of the country’s future leaders are housed inside Tehran’s Evin complex — the nation’s most notorious prison — and other jails around the country.

“Within the political prisoners’ ward, they call it ‘Evin University’ because some of the most accomplished people in the country have been incarcerated there, and they teach each other,” Ghaemi said.

Those accomplished figures also until recently included Oscar-nominated film director Jafar Panahi, who has frequently been detained and imprisoned in Evin by the Iranian authorities for making movies. In modern-day Iran, any form of cultural dissent must be snuffed out to preserve the increasingly weakened regime’s grip on its people.

The concern for prisoners inside Evin are not unwarranted. Last year, during the 12-day war between the U.S./Israel and Iran, Israel’s defense minister said Evin was targeted as a site of “government repression.” According to Human Rights Watch, at least 80 people were killed.

On Tuesday, reports from inside Iran suggested that part of the perimeter wall of Evin Prison was struck by a U.S. or Israeli missile attack, and that sections of the prison wall were damaged.

These prisoners include those in academics, activists, labor unionists, students and teachers — essentially the building blocks and brain trust of a future Iran free from theocracy.

“That means there is a possibility that prisoners may be able to walk out, but given the [regime] special forces have taken over, it’s likely that those prisoners are sitting ducks,” Ghaemi told me. “The whim and subjective decision-making of these armed [regime] individuals who we know could just very randomly decide to start shooting certain prisoners and kill them if they feel like it. And that is extremely dangerous.”

It isn’t just Evin’s prisoners under threat. One of the most internationally recognized Iranian opposition figures, 2023 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi, was given yet another arbitrary prison sentence in early February. Shortly thereafter, Mohammadi was moved to Zanjan prison, a jail northwest of Tehran that was shaken by huge explosions from U.S. and Israeli bombs this week.

Now, compounding the danger is the collapse of internet connectivity inside the country. Metrics from NetBlocks, a nonpartisan global internet monitor, show that Iranians have been offline for more than 100 hours and internet connectivity is flatlining at 1% of ordinary levels as the conflict escalates. The regime-imposed blackout is the second this year and follows the mass communications shutdown in January, when thousands of Iranians were killed.

The Narges Foundation, a human rights organization run by Mohammadi’s family, told me on Thursday that, due to internet connectivity being heavily restricted in the country, it’s been impossible to contact lawyers inside Iran to get updates on her well-being. Mohammadi has been severely ill after years of incarceration, and has been denied medical assistance. “When they treat a Nobel laureate like this, imagine what they do to others,” the Narges Foundation said.

Another deep concern is the health and safety of the many dual nationals and foreign prisoners who are also currently incarcerated. These people — such as The Washington Post’s Jason Rezaian, who was eventually released after 544 days in an Iranian jail — have been used by the Islamic Republic regime in the past as bargaining chips in negotiations with the U.S. and European nations.

There are thought to be at least six U.S. dual nationals imprisoned, according to The Foley Foundation, which tracks and monitors American hostages overseas. These American citizens include journalist Reza Valizadeh and Kamran Hekmatia Jewish Iranian American from New York, who has been detained for more than 280 days. A family member of another dual national told reporters this week that one of the bombs landed so close to Evin Prison that it punctured the windows and the ceiling.

Hours before the U.S. military strikes began last week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio designated Iran as a “State Sponsor of Wrongful Detention,” the first time this designation has ever been used. But there have been no formal statements from the administration about what lengths it is going to try and safeguard detained individuals.

What responsibility will the Trump administration take for the safeguarding of prisoners, and the broader civilian population to help rebuild the nation?

We know that the Islamic Republic has a wanton disregard for its own people. More than 51,000 people were rounded up by the regime and incarcerated for protesting during the January uprisings, the most violent crackdown on protests in the Islamic Republic’s history, with potentially tens of thousands of innocent Iranians killed.

But what responsibility will the Trump administration take for the safeguarding of prisoners, and the broader civilian population to help rebuild the nation after this campaign is through? Five days after a strike hit an elementary school in Minab, killing more than 160 school children and educators, the U.S. still says it is investigating what happened. However, reports on Thursday suggested the U.S. was responsible. The reality is, as the war against Iran continues, any “precision strikes” are less likely to remain precise as a conflict drags on and the margin for error is greater.

The rationales offered for this war are dizzying in number; the legalities and the debates will continue to rage for years to come. But the fact is, the horse has bolted the stable. The U.S. and Israel are now embroiled in a war that has and will continue to claim civilian lives. Both parties, but particularly Israel, have been dogged about wanting this regime to go. So, too, have many Iranians for years.

But now it’s not just a moral responsibility — it’s also in the inherent interests of the Americans and Israelis to safeguard those civilians they claim should be helping shape and build a post-Islamic Republic regime in Iran.

Caroline Modarressy-Tehrani

Caroline Modarressy-Tehrani is a journalist, podcast host and writer. She writes “High Key with CMT” and can be found on Instagram @caro_mt.

The Dictatorship

In the wake of the Virginia ruling, where does the national redistricting arms race stand?

Published

8 hours ago

May 8, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

In the wake of the Virginia ruling, where does the national redistricting arms race stand?

In Virginia, a majority of the House of Delegates voted to approve a new congressional district map that was designed to help Democrats add as many as four seats in the U.S. House. A majority of the state Senate agreed, as did the commonwealth’s popularly elected governor. The issue then went to the people of Virginia, and a majority of voters backed the redistricting initiative, too.

A majority of the Virginia Supreme Court, however, rejected the plan anyway. MS NOW reported:

The Virginia Supreme Court on Friday struck down a voter-approved congressional redistricting plan, ruling that Democrats violated constitutional procedures when placing the referendum on the ballot for last month’s special election. […]

In its 4-3 decision, the court on Friday found that the process used to place the amendment on the ballot did not comply with Virginia’s constitutional rules governing how such proposals must be approved by the legislature before being presented to voters. As a result, the justices upheld a lower court ruling that blocks the amendment from being certified and implemented.

For Democratic efforts on the national level, the ruling is an unexpected gut punch, especially given the fact that after Virginia voters approved the overhauled map last month, it appeared that Democrats would be able to keep pace with the GOP as part of the broader redistricting fight.

What’s more, the state Supreme Court ruling comes on the heels of a similarly brutal blow after Republican-appointed U.S. Supreme Court justices gutted the Voting Rights Act, which opened the door even further to an intensified Republican effort to erase majority-Black congressional districts in the South.

Given all of this, it’s easy to imagine many Americans responding to the head-spinning developments with a simple question: “So where do things stand now?”

Before we dig in on that, it’s worth pausing to acknowledge the absurdity of the circumstances. For generations, states redrew congressional district lines after the decennial census. There were limited exceptions, but in nearly all of those instances, mid-decade redistricting only happened when courts told states that their maps were unlawful and needed to be redone.

The idea that politicians would simply choose to start redrawing maps, in the middle of a decade, in pursuit of partisan advantages, was practically unheard of.

Last year, however, Donald Trump, fearing the results of the 2026 midterm elections and the possible accountability that would result from Democratic victories, decided that the American model needed to be discarded. It was time, the president said, to pursue what one White House official described as a campaign of “maximum warfare” in which Republican officials in key states would embrace gerrymandering without regard for fairness, norms, traditions or propriety.

The goal was simple: Deliver Republican victories in congressional races long before Americans had a chance to cast their ballots.

The result was an arms race that’s still going on — and here’s where things stand.

A map of the United States highlighting states that have redrawn their congressional maps — As of May 8, 2026. *Virginia’s voter-approved congressional redistricting plan was struck down by the Virginia Supreme Court Ben King / MS NOW; Source: MaddowBlog election analysis

Texas: Republicans in the Lone Star State got the ball rolling last summer, acting at Trump’s behest and approving a map designed to give Republicans five additional U.S. House seats. It touched off the national arms race.

California: Responding to Texas, Democratic officials in the Golden State, as well as the state’s voters, approved a map of their own designed to give Democrats five additional U.S. House seats.

Missouri: In September, state Republicans approved a map designed to give the GOP one additional seat.

North Carolina: In October, state Republicans approved a map designed to give Republicans one additional seat.

Ohio: While the redistricting effort in the Buckeye State wasn’t as brazen as it was elsewhere, Ohio’s new map diluted two Democratic-held districts, creating GOP pickup opportunities.

Utah: A state court approved a new map that will likely give Democrats one additional seat.

Florida: Just this week, Republicans completed the process on a new map designed to give Republicans as many as four additional seats.

Tennessee: Also this week, Republicans approved a new map designed to give Republicans one additional seat, taking advantage of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling.

Louisiana: While the newly redrawn map in the Pelican State hasn’t been formally unveiled, it will reportedly add one additional Republican seat.

Alabama: Republicans are currently moving forward with plans for a map that would give Republicans two more seats.

It’s important to emphasize that some of these maps are currently facing legal challenges, while others are still taking shape. Most of these maps would take effect during this year’s election cycle, but there’s still some uncertainty surrounding the implementation date in some states.

Nevertheless, the Virginia map that enjoyed popular public support was prepared to help mitigate an unprecedented Republican abuse. The state Supreme Court in the commonwealth appears to have removed that option.

After Virginia voters had their say, many GOP officials questioned whether the entire gerrymandering gambit had been a waste of time and effort. In the aftermath of two highly controversial court rulings, Republicans are suddenly feeling a lot better about the whole scheme.

The Dictatorship

You asked, Joe answered

Published

8 hours ago

May 8, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

May. 8, 2026, 12:39 PM EDT

This is the May 8, 2026, edition of “The Tea, Spilled by Morning Joe” newsletter. Subscribe hereto get it delivered straight to your inbox every Monday through Friday.

This Mother’s Day, I’ll be thinking about my mom, Mary Jo Scarboroughjust as I do every day.

I wrote about Mom in the Washington Post the week she died in 2019:

My first memory of Mom was her comforting presence at my side while a late night thunderstorm roared over our neighborhood in suburban Atlanta.

Mom softly sang “Where Is Love?” from the musical “Oliver!” and then told me how reciting the 23rd Psalm aloud would bring peace.

I may not have felt that blessed assurance as a 4-year-old, but my mother’s presence always brought peace.

Mom and I were emotionally inseparable for 55 years, and as she lay dying, I wanted her life to end the way my memories of her began. I quietly told her she would continue living on in the hearts of those she loved, and that more importantly, she would soon be reunited with Dad.

I knew Mom could hear my quiet words, just as I knew what she would whisper back if she could:

“Joey, be more careful with your words. If you keep talking down Republicans, you might just elect a Democrat.”

That was Mom. A steel magnolia. A Southern Baptist. A traditional Republican.

She would scarcely recognize her church or party seven years later, and would tell me to keep up the fight she helped me begin 32 years ago when I first ran for Congress.

“Judge yourself by your enemies, Joey,” she would say when things got tough. Then she’d say, “Don’t let them get the best of you. Keep fighting!”

Mom was raised an FDR Democrat and couldn’t stand extremists on any side.

She would especially be offended by the excessive cruelty of right-wing politicians who justify their hatred of others by twisted views of what they call “Christianity.”

Faith always eclipsed politics in our home. And when things got too crazy in Washington, Mom would quote an old gospel song: “This world is not my home, I’m just passing through.”

Well, Mom, I’m so grateful that I was part of your journey on this Earth. And on this Mother’s Day weekend, I thank you for continuing to be a part of my life for as long as I’m blessed to live.

I love you,

Joey

ON THE CALENDAR

In New York, the Macy’s Flower Show wraps its final weekend at Herald Square — store windows in full bloom, stained-glass sunsets, fabric-draped planters. A perfect Mother’s Day outing. Go before it’s gone.

In the nation’s capital, the Arab American Culture Festival returns to Eighth Street for its fourth year, with food from places such as Morocco and Palestine, dabke dance troupes, and live Arabic music.

In the Windy City, Broadway’s longest-running musical, “Chicago,” brings its Jazz Age murder trials and celebrity media circus home for five nights at The Auditorium.

Atlanta’s”https://www.sweetauburn.com/faq”> Sweet Auburn Springfest turns 40 this weekend — four decades of culture, music, and community in the neighborhood that gave the Civil Rights Movement its heartbeat.

You can’t spell “laugh” without L.A. and “ugh” — or so says Netflix Is a Joke. The stand-up comedy festival takes over Hollywood this weekend with 350 shows: Jenny Slate, John Mulaney, Jerry Seinfeldand more.

Myrtle Beach Bike Week descends on the Grand Strand for 10 days this weekend, bringing half a million riders and considerably more leather than the average beach vacation.

The NBA Conference Semifinals are on all weekend. Knicks vs. Sixers on Friday and Sunday. Pistons vs. Cavaliers on Saturday. Thunder vs. Lakers Saturday night on ABC.

In Buffalo, the Sabres host the Canadiens Sunday on ESPN, in their first playoff appearance in 14 years.

And the Red Sox are home at Fenway against Tampa Bay.

Now, let’s check some mail.

MAILBAG

Thank you again to all our readers who wrote in this week. As always, you’re welcome to write to us any time.

I just want to thank you for naming the “Ballroom” the Marie Antoinette Ballroom. It is so appropriate. If [Sen. Lindsey] Graham is successful in making us pay for it, what happens to the $300 million in donations? Does Trump pocket it?

— Katherine G., Moorhead, Minn.

If past is prologue, we can assume the president will try to pocket any money he has raised for his own use. The bigger question for me is why Republican leaders were so tone-deaf that they voluntarily proposed taking $1 billion from taxpayers to fund this grotesque vanity project.

With gas prices skyrocketing, healthcare bills becoming more expensive by the day, and groceries taking a huge bite out of working Americans’ paychecks, a Marie Antoinette-style ballroom is the last thing most Americans want or need.

If there is a reduction in Social Security and Medicare coming, why should I, as a retiree and disabled veteran, be happy for the U.S. government to allocate $400 million for an unneeded ballroom and funds for an arch that is not needed?

— Joe W., Warsaw, Wis.

Thank you for your service to America, Joe.

You can look at my answer above to your question as well. Also, add to that the record deficits and crippling debt that Trump Republicans are passing on to Americans every day.

This week, America’s debt surpassed our country’s gross domestic product for the only time since World War II. Golden ballrooms and gaudy arches are the last thing America needs right now.

Republicans are spending like drunken socialists and they need to stop now. The cost to the next generation will be devastating.

Do you think it’s too late to save America? The government gets more out of touch every day. Even if Democrats win in November, so much damage has already been done. Thanks.

— Curtis E., Charlotte, N.C.

Curtis, America has survived slavery, 48 recessions, a civil war, Jim Crow laws, two world wars, Japanese internment camps, 1960s riots, Vietnam, Watergate, 9/11, two pandemics, and more crises than I can list here.

We will survive the challenges facing us now as well. We must remain vigilant and determined, and keep our heads about us. America is worth the struggle, especially when we have Madison’s Constitution and 250 years of history on our side.

If the “mutual destruction” argument worked to keep nuclear bombs off the list of Russian options for so many years, why doesn’t that argument work against the Iranians?

— Pat Q., Troy, Ohio

Because Iranian leaders who have ruled that country by terror since 1979 know they are fighting for their very lives.

For Donald Trumpthe stakes are midterm elections that matter little to him. Still, as gas approaches $5 a gallon nationally, the political pressure for Trump to cut and run is becoming too great. That’s why the president ignored repeated Iranian attacks on U.S. warships and called our countermeasures a “love tap.”

What a weak, dangerous message to send to our enemies. Let’s hope the president shows real strength soon. Our national security depends on it.

ONE MORE SHOT

Sean Levey (in red), riding Secret Santa, wins the Ascot Hospitality Handicap Stakes at Ascot Racecourse in Ascot, England.

That’s all the time we have, folks.

Thanks so much for your letters and for reading The Tea, Spilled by Morning Joe.

Have a great weekend.

Joe

CATCH UP ON MORNING JOE

The Dictatorship

The Iran war’s unexpected victims: American farmers

Published

8 hours ago

May 8, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

May. 8, 2026, 12:29 PM EDT

John Bartman knows the challenges of being a farmer. His family has been tilling Illinois soil since James K. Polk sat in the Oval Office, weathering droughts, trade disputes, market crashes and a Civil War in the process.

But now, with Donald Trump behind the Resolute Desk, fertilizer shipments have been halted through the Strait of Hormuz — a choke point for roughly one-third of the world’s fertilizer supply — and the resulting price spike is causing Bartman’s profits to disappear.

After years of turmoil for American farmers, “it’s just another straw that breaks the camel’s back,” Bartman said.

New data from the American Farm Bureau Federationan agricultural lobbying firm, warns that Bartman isn’t alone: Some 70% of American farmers may be unable to afford all the fertilizer their fields require.

It’s the latest in a series of economic headwinds that have slammed the U.S. agricultural industry over the past decade, causing farm bankruptcies to jump 46% from 2024 to 2025. The AFBF reported that this year 58% of its members said their financial situation had worsened since early 2025, while just 6% reported improvement.

Map: Carson Elm-Picard / MS NOW; Source: American Farm Bureau Federation

“Many farms were broadly in a situation of net negative margins, where they’re losing money, and this just compounds the problem,” Shawn Arita, the associate director of North Dakota State University’s Agricultural Risk Policy Center, said of the fertilizer shortage. “It was a very difficult situation before March 1, and now it’s certainly a lot more challenging.”

The shortage has caused the price of fertilizer jump from around $400 per ton in January to more than $600 per ton this week, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The impact of those high prices won’t be felt evenly across the U.S. — only 19% of Southern farmers preordered fertilizer before the price increased, compared with 30% in the Northeast, 31% in the West and 67% in the Midwest, according to the AFBF.

Chart: Carson Elm-Picard / MS NOW; Source: American Farm Bureau Federation

Trump administration officials, including Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, have sought to downplay the severity of the inflation.

Rollins told Fox Business that “America has plenty of fertilizer” for its farmers, and Vance acknowledged the shortage but dismissed the conflict behind the inflation as “a little blip in the Middle East” during a speech on Tuesday. That same day, Rubio echoed Rollins’ claimsaying that it was only Iran’s fertilizer, not the United States’, that was stranded in the Persian Gulf.

While the U.S. is a major exporter of fertilizer globally, it still produces only about 9% of the global supply and remains a net importer of the good, according to the USDA, meaning that supply chain disruptions on the other side of the world still affect domestic market prices.

That could be why Rollins is now considering reviving a Biden-era initiative that pledged $900 million to funding the construction of new fertilizer plants in the U.S. That initiative, the Fertilizer Production Expansion Program, was eliminated during Trump’s second term “due to Presidential Executive Orders,” according to the USDA website.

Even if the initiative was resuscitated or the Strait of Hormuz reopened tomorrow, farmers would be paying inflated prices through 2027, even into 2028, Arita said. Rep. Don Bacon., R-Neb., a member of the House Agriculture Committee, told MS NOW that the Trump administration should “re-examine their tariff policies” to alleviate the strain on farmers, but did not comment on the effects of the Iran War.

Chart: Carson Elm-Picard / MS NOW; Source: American Farm Bureau Federation

Another committee member, Rep. April McClain Delaney, D-Md., said the high fertilizer prices are “reflective of a much larger crisis” caused by the Trump administration — one that has already hit her constituents.

“Farmers in my district are facing tough choices about whether they can afford to plant at all,” said Delaney, who represents Maryland’s largely rural 6th Congressional District. “This administration’s reckless actions and the flawed farm bill are failing our farmers.”

The House Agriculture Committee’s Republican leadership, Chairman Glenn Thompson of Pennsylvania and Vice Chairman Austin Scott of Georgia, did not respond to requests for comment on this story.

Fertilizer inflation isn’t the only thing pushing up costs for farmers; diesel prices in the U.S. have jumped from about $3.80 at the start of the war to more than $5.60 as of May 4 , according to USDA data. That in turn has made it more expensive for all farmers to do business — even small growers like Leah Dannar-Garcia, an organic farmer in Wichita, Kansas, who doesn’t use synthetic fertilizer.

“Farms have been just hanging on with the soybean debacle last year,” Dannar-Garcia said, referring to the Trump administration’s $20 billion bailout of Argentinawhich spurred China to reduce its U.S. agricultural imports. “It’s had a devastating effect.”

As a soybean farmer, Bartman was particularly affected by that decision. Arita said the situation now is having an “asymmetric impact” on American agriculturalists, as farmers are paying more to grow and sell their crops, but aren’t necessarily able to raise prices on consumers to match. That in turn leads to lost profit and endangered livelihoods.

“They’re running the American farmer into the ground and out of business,” Bartman said of the Trump administration. “The only thing that is cheaper today than three years ago in the United States is a bushel of soybeans.”

Adam Hudacek is a desk associate for MS NOW covering national politics in Washington, D.C.