Protests erupt in Iran as a result of a wave of suspected poison assaults on schoolgirls

• Iranian officials suspect the girls were poisoned and have accused Tehran’s adversaries.
• Iran’s interior minister announced that investigators had discovered “suspicious samples.”
• More than 30 schools in at least ten of Iran’s 31 provinces were closed due to illness.

Concerned parents demonstrated on Saturday in Iran‘s capital Tehran and other towns in response to a spate of suspected poison assaults on schoolgirls in dozens of schools, according to Iranian news agencies and social media recordings.

Hundreds of schoolgirls have been stricken by the as-yet unexplained ailments in recent months. Iranian officials suspect the girls were poisoned and have accused Tehran’s adversaries.

The children were subjected to “mild poison” attacks, according to the country’s health minister, and some MPs believe they were targeted by radical Islamist groups opposed to females’ education.

On Saturday, Iran’s interior minister announced that investigators had discovered “suspicious samples” that were being analyzed.

“In field studies, suspicious samples have been found, which are being investigated… to identify the causes of the student’s illness, and the results will be published as soon as possible,” the minister, Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli, said in a statement.

On Saturday, more than 30 schools in at least ten of Iran’s 31 provinces were closed due to illness. Social media videos showed parents gathering at schools to pick up their children and some pupils being brought to hospitals by ambulance or bus.

A lady from Qom earlier informed me that her two daughters, who went to different schools, had been poisoned. After being poisoned, one girl experienced severe health problems, including nausea, shortness of breath, numbness in her left leg and right hand, and difficulty walking.

A protest of parents outside an Education Ministry office in western Tehran on Saturday escalated into an anti-government march.

Protesters screamed, “Basij, Guards, you are our Daesh,” comparing the Revolutionary Guards and other security personnel to the Islamic State group.

According to unverified recordings, similar rallies were organized in two other parts of Tehran as well as other towns such as Isfahan and Rasht.

The outbreak of schoolgirl disease comes at a critical time for Iran’s clerical rulers, who have been dealing with months of anti-government rallies started by the murder of a young Iranian lady in the custody of morality police who enforce stringent dress restrictions.

In recent days, social media posts have displayed photographs and videos of girls who have been ill, feeling nauseated, or experiencing heart palpitations. Others reported headaches.

On Friday, the United Nations human rights office in Geneva asked for an open inquiry into the suspected attacks, while countries such as Germany and the United States expressed alarm.

Experts have discussed the challenges in researching the issue in Iran, stating that the incidents were “remarkably similar” to dozens of instances at Afghan schools since 2009. “Pesticides were highly suspected in a couple of these occurrences, but the majority of the diseases remain unexplained,” said Royal United Services Institute defense specialist Dan Kaszeta in London.

Iran condemned foreign intervention and “hasty reactions,” and said on Friday that it was studying the incidents’ causes.

“It is one of the immediate priorities of Iran’s government to pursue this issue as quickly as possible and provide documented information to resolve the families’ concerns and to hold accountable the perpetrators and the causes,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani told state media.

Schoolgirls took part in the anti-government demonstrations that began in September. They have ripped up photos of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and chanted for his death in classrooms, where they are required to wear headscarves.

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