Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, announced that more than 100 people have been arrested nationwide in connection with the mysterious poisonings of thousands of schoolgirls. The authorities claim the unidentified perpetrators may have links to “hostile” groups. Since late November, schoolgirls have experienced fainting, nausea, shortness of breath and other symptoms after reporting “unpleasant” odours on school premises, with some requiring hospital treatment.
State media reported late Saturday that the interior ministry announced the arrests related to suspected poison attacks in over 200 schools, which have sparked fear and anger among pupils and their parents. “More than 100 people who were responsible for the recent school incidents were identified, arrested, and investigated,” the ministry said in a statement carried by the state news agency IRNA. “Among those arrested are people with hostile motives and with the aim of instilling terror in the people and students and to close schools.” The ministry added that, “Fortunately, from the middle of last week until today, the number of incidents in schools has decreased significantly, and there have been no reports of sick students.”
The statement suggested possible links to an Albania‑based exiled Iranian opposition group that Tehran considers a “terrorist” organization, the People’s Mujahedin of Iran (MEK). “The investigation of these criminal people, including the discovery of their possible connection with terrorist organisations such as the MEK and others, is ongoing,” IRNA reported.
The poisonings began two months into the protests that have gripped Iran since the September 16 death of 22‑year‑old Mahsa Amini, an ethnic Kurd arrested for allegedly violating strict dress rules for women. Iran has blamed those protests—often labeled “riots”—on hostile forces abroad linked to its arch‑foes, the United States, Israel, and their allies. More than 5,000 pupils have been affected in approximately 230 schools across 25 of Iran’s 31 provinces, according to the latest official tally.
Arrests were made in the provinces of Tehran, Qom and Gilan in the north; Razavi Khorasan in the northeast; West Azerbaijan, East Azerbaijan and Zanjan in the northwest; Kurdistan and Hamadan in the west; Khuzestan in the southwest; and Fars in the south. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had previously called for the perpetrators of the “unforgivable crime” to be tracked down “without mercy.”
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