Twenty Iranian schoolgirls were hospitalised yesterday after yet another suspected poisoning on young women seeking education.
Reports from the country have shed further light on a horrific spate of attacks on terrified students.
The latest poisonings are just the most recent in a wave of such cases since last November.
This has seen over 5,000 students suffer from fainting, nausea, shortness of breath and other symptoms, often being rushed to hospital, after reporting unpleasant odours.
Of the 20 affected schoolgirls hit by the most recent attack, none are believed to be life-threatening and they were taken to hospital.
The poisonings come amid a tumultuous time in the country that has seen protests over women’s safety and rights rock Iran as the regime clings on.
Protests were triggered by the horrific death of Mahsa Amini, 22, in the custody of the so-called “morality police” after allegedly being arrested for not wearing a hijab.
This sparked the largest anti-regime protests in the 43-year history of the Islamic Republic.
At first, the regime tried to rubbish mounting evidence of the attacks before finally acknowledging them.
In retaliation to the protests, some have suggested that certain groups in the country are targeting schoolgirls with the attacks.
The schoolgirls were treated in Tabriz, the capital of the northwestern province of East Azerbaijan, according to the IRNA news agency.
Asghar Jafari, head of the city’s emergency services, told the outlet: "Emergency experts were immediately dispatched to the scene after a report that a number of students from one of the girls’ high schools in Tabriz were in a bad condition,”.
He added the "vital signs … and the general condition of all students is good,".
No one has claimed responsibility for the attack and the government has roundly refused to do anything until recently.
The United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner said: “The first reported poisoning of schoolgirls in Iran occurred on 30 November 2022, in the city of Qom.
“Since then, targeted chemical attacks against girls’ schools have been reported in 91 schools located in 20 provinces across Iran.
“The poisonings have already resulted in hundreds of schoolgirls being hospitalised. Many parents have removed their daughters from school for fear of these attacks.
“We are deeply concerned about the physical and mental well-being of these schoolgirls; their parents and the ability of the girls to enjoy their fundamental right to education.
“While arrests have just been announced, we remain gravely disturbed by the fact that for several months, State authorities not only failed to swiftly investigate the attacks, but repeatedly denied them until recently,”.
Instead of working to deal with the vicious and repeated attacks, as recently as last month, Iran’s government was still rubbishing the idea of any such attacks.
On March 1, Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi, whose Ministry led the investigations, was still dismissing the attacks, claiming that 90 per cent of cases could be attributed to “stress."
Similarly state-affiliated media described the poisoning incidents as an attempt by students to miss exams.
This led to even more protests about the authority’s failure to stop the spate of vile attacks and eventually the government seemingly u-turned and announced the first arrests over the poisonings.
Deputy interior minister, Majid Mirahmadi, told state television: “Based on the intelligence and research measures of the intelligence agencies, a number of people have been arrested in five provinces and the relevant agencies are conducting a full investigation,”.
They didn’t provide any more information on the suspects.
Messages from the regime continue to be contradictory, as the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said anyone found guilty will be “severely punished”.
Meanwhile, education minister Yousef Nouri, was saying that the vast majority of the girls had no medical problem - just stress.
As a part of the regime’s belated action, Iran’s health ministry published a report from its scientific committee investigation and admitted that “some of the students were exposed to an irritant substance that is mainly inhaled”.
But even as they finally began to tackle the attacks, Tehran was cracking down on those criticising their response.
On Monday three journalists and other dissidents, including a retired academic, were called in for questioning.
It is thought that 28 of Iran’s 31 provinces had seen 103 schools targeted in all.
US state department spokesperson, Ned Price, admitted that if poisonings had taken place and were linked to suppressing the women’s protests then it would be legitimate for an already existing UN-led inquiry to examine them.
Since Mahsa’s death, Iran Human Rights said that the country’s security forces had killed at least 537 people - with at least four of these being executed on protest-related charges.
