The Dictatorship

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

Published

4 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

Monday’s Campaign Round-Up, 6.22.26: Why Trump backed both Republicans in a key S.C. race

Published

13 hours ago

June 22, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Monday’s Campaign Round-Up, 6.22.26: Why Trump backed both Republicans in a key S.C. race

Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.

* In South Carolina’s gubernatorial raceDonald Trump endorsed Lt. Gov. Pam Evette last month. Last week, however, ahead of this week’s primary runoff election in the race, the president published an online item telling voters that “you can’t go wrong” with either Evette or state Attorney General Alan Wilson.

If this sounds at all familiar, it’s because Trump has done this before. Around this time two years ago, for example, he endorsed both Republicans running in a congressional primary in Arizona. And two years before that, he endorsed two leading contenders in a Senate primary in Missouri.

Only the president can say for sure why he ended up endorsing Evette and Wilson in the South Carolina race, though it’s worth emphasizing for context that GOP primary voters have already ignored his direction into two gubernatorial primaries this month, and it stands to reason that he hoped to avoid a third.

* We’re one day away from a variety of notable racesincluding but not limited to South Carolina’s gubernatorial race. There are also some congressional primaries in a handful of statesincluding Maryland, New York and Utah.

* In took a while, but the ballots have been tallied under Maine’s ranked-choice systemand we now know that Democrat Hannah Pingree, the former state House speaker, will face off against Republican Bobby Charles, who worked at the State Department during the Bush-Cheney era.

* As for Maine’s closely watched congressional racestate Auditor Matt Dunlap won the Democratic nomination in the battleground 2nd District, defeating state Sen. Joe Baldacci, who enjoyed the backing of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Dunlap will run in the fall against a familiar figure: former Republican Gov. Paul LePage, who had moved to Florida a few years ago, but who returned to run for Congress.

* In California’s congressional special electiontwo Democratic candidates — state Sen. Aisha Wahab and Melissa Hernandez, a Bay Area Rapid Transit director — have advanced to an Aug. 18 special general election. The winner will fill the vacancy left by disgraced former Rep. Eric Swalwell, who resigned in April.

* In a new commercial shared first with MS NOWDemocrat James Talarico has launched his campaign’s first multimillion-dollar ad buy in Texas’ gubernatorial race. In the 30-second spot, Talarico focuses on affordability and the cost of living. The state lawmaker will face scandal-plagued state Attorney General Ken Paxton in the fall.

* And in New Jersey, Republican Rep. Tom Kean Jr.who has been missing from Capitol Hill since early March, will reportedly return to work on June 30according to a statement from his spokesperson. Neither Kean nor his office have offered any public information about why he has been away.

Steve Benen is a producer for “The Rachel Maddow Show,” the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He’s also the bestselling author of “Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans’ War on the Recent Past.”

The Dictatorship

Trump tries dual endorsement in South Carolina as his pick for governor flounders in polls

Published

13 hours ago

June 22, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Trump tries dual endorsement in South Carolina as his pick for governor flounders in polls

Jun. 22, 2026, 11:39 AM EDT

After President Donald Trump’s pick for governor in Iowa lost in the Republican primary earlier this month, the president argued that he “would have endorsed the other person” if he had “the proper information.”

Trump is taking no chances in the South Carolina gubernatorial primary. Over the weekend he rescinded his exclusive endorsement of Pamela Evette, the lieutenant governor, announcing instead that he would support both Evette and her runoff opponent, Alan Wilson, the state’s attorney general.

The move put Evette’s political future in jeopardy: Even before Trump’s dual endorsement, she trailed in limited public polling and was seen by political observers in South Carolina as a weak candidate with little to show besides the president’s coveted endorsement.

“Her chief distinction from Alan Wilson was that Trump endorsed her,” said Dr. Dubose Kapeluck, a professor of political science at the Citadel Military College of South Carolina.

Trump’s dual endorsement “was a kiss of death,” he told MS NOW.

Evette, who moved to South Carolina from Ohio to found a successful payroll and HR company in 2000, has been lieutenant governor since 2019, serving under Gov. Henry McMaster, who is term-limited.

In office, she has pursued meaningful but little-celebrated policies, like a key tort reform bill, according to Gil Gatch, a Republican member of the South Carolina state House and an Evette supporter.

But voters could be forgiven for knowing little about Evette besides the fact that Trump endorsed her, which he did just days before the June 9 primary. Visitors to her campaign website are greeted with a full-screen message labeling Evette as “Trump-endorsed.” The first line in her X bio states the same. Pro-Evette television ads are quick to tout the endorsement.

An accomplishment like tort reform, while noted on Evette’s website, “maybe could have been something that was highlighted more heavily,” Gatch told MS NOW.

The political makeup of South Carolina nearly guarantees the next governor will be whoever emerges on Tuesday between Evette and Wilson. They survived a crowded primary field on June 9, and nearly every challenger who fell short of the runoff publicly endorsed the attorney general.

“She’s just not a good candidate,” Josh Kimbrell, a state senator who failed to make the runoff and has since said he’d back Wilson, said of Evette.

“She kind of assumed this was a coronation, and that was never going to go over that well,” he added.

Even some pro-Trump voters were confused by the president’s initial endorsement of Evette, whom he called “a good friend, fighter, and WINNER” in a social media post in May.

“I have no clue why Trump would endorse Pamela Evette,” Leland Lemmons, a 30-year-old Trump supporter told MS NOW as he exited a polling site in the Greenville suburb of Easley on June 9.

“She’s served, you know, a decent time. I just haven’t seen much fruition of what she’s done in office,” he added.

In a post on Truth Social Friday announcing his dual endorsement, Trump wrote, “I can’t hurt one of them by only Endorsing the other, so, therefore, I am going to Endorse, for Governor of South Carolina, both Pam Evette and Alan Wilson!”

In a subsequent statement on X, Evette said, “I was proud to come in first as [Trump’s] endorsed candidate for Governor on June 9th. Looking forward to doing it again on June 23rd.”

After The Washington Post foreshadowed the dual endorsement last Tuesday, allies of Evette were quick to denounce the possibility.

“I would guess that’s fake news,” Suzanne Pucci, a member of Evette’s finance committee, told MS NOW of the chance Trump would also endorse Wilson. “She’s probably not real worried about it.”

Another close ally and supporter told MS NOW at the time the report was “a total, fabricated lie.”

“[Trump] is invested in Pamela Evette because she invested in him. He’s a loyal guy. That kind of stuff is important to him,” added the supporter, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

“With or without Trump, I think she is going to win,” they said.

On Thursday, a senior campaign aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity, brushed off the idea of a dual endorsement, telling MS NOW in a statement, “Pamela Evette has earned the complete and total endorsement of President Trump. She is the only Trump-endorsed candidate in this race and we look forward to delivering a big win for the president on Tuesday.”

Roughly 24 hours later, Trump retracted the exclusive endorsement.

Will McDuffie is a reporter for MS NOW.

The Dictatorship

Fears of an ‘economic catastrophe’ helped push Trump toward an Iran deal

Published

13 hours ago

June 22, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Fears of an ‘economic catastrophe’ helped push Trump toward an Iran deal

As last week’s G7 summit in France got underway, a reporter asked Donald Trump whether his purported deal with Iran was final. “No, it’s not final,” the president replied. Later that day — during a visit to Versaillesof all places — he signed the framework anyway.

But moments after signing his name to the memorandum of understanding, Trump offered an unsubtle hint about what he was thinking at the time. Amid applause from those around him, the American president pointed down and then up while saying“Oil down, stocks up.”

In other words, Trump’s focus had nothing to do with natural security and everything to do with the economy. What’s more, the four-word phrase was part of a larger and underappreciated pattern. The Washington Post reported:

In the more than 100 days since President Donald Trump launched a war with Iran, he has offered a shifting list of reasons for why he started the conflict. But in explaining his push for peace, he named a priority much closer to home: protecting the stock market.

“I didn’t want to see economic catastrophe,” Trump told reporters gathered in the Alpine spa town of Évian-les-Bains, France, after the Group of Seven summit.

As the summit wrapped up, the Republican similarly said“I’ve studied presidents, some good, some bad, some great. Not too many are great and some really bad. … And the one president I did not want to be was the late, great Herbert Hoover. I didn’t want that and who knows what would have happened.”

He pushed the same point in an interview with Axios, which was released over the weekend.

“If I went further, the stock market would be much lower,” the president said. “Now think of this: I have one primary wish as president, in terms of people: I never want to be the late, great Herbert Hoover.”

The comments came days after Trump similarly argued“The alternative to this deal was a global recession. There are stupid people who want to see a global recession. They are just stupid people.”

Whether the president fully appreciates the implications of his own rhetoric, this string of comments doesn’t just shed light on his motivations for accepting a defeat, it also suggests he saw his failed policy in Iran as pushing the global economy toward a dangerous cliff.

In other words, based on Trump’s own comments, the war he started was poised to create an “economic catastrophe,” which he was desperate to avoid — and which led him to accept a framework that empowered Iran to get what it wanted in exchange for effectively no concessions at all.