Hundreds of Iranian school children and students were again treated in hospitals for symptoms of poisoning at the weekend. As of Saturday, more than 30 schools in at least 10 of Iran’s 31 provinces were affected. Videos posted on internet forums showed parents picking up their children outside school buildings and some girls being taken to hospitals by ambulance or bus. A rally by parents in front of the Ministry of Education building in western Tehran turned into an anti-government demonstration, a video shows.
According to counts by official and semi-official news agencies, around 300 girls were affected on Saturday alone. More than 120 girls have been treated for nausea, dizziness and symptoms of exhaustion in the western Iranian city of Hamadan and neighboring districts. The suspected chemical poisonings were also reported from five cities near Tehran, as well as from the holy city of Qom, where the first cases of poisoning occurred. For the first time there were also reports of incidents at boys’ schools.
Numerous parents demonstrated because of the alleged poison attacks, including in the capital. According to the Ministry of Health, it was “mild poisoning”. Some politicians have blamed Islamist extremists who oppose girls’ education. School girls have also been involved in anti-government demonstrations since mid-September. The interior minister only announced at the weekend that samples from different schools would now be tested.
Little is known about the background so far, at the same time there is a lot of speculation. But the symptoms are always the same: dizziness, nausea and shortness of breath. Those affected reported, among other things, hissing noises in the classrooms and the smell of sulfur. Iranian doctors therefore suspect the use of gases. It became known from official circles that the government suspects extremist religious groups to be behind the wave of poisoning.
concessions in the nuclear dispute
While the wave of poisoning is churning up the country internally, the regime is sending out signals of renewed openness in the nuclear dispute. A few days before a crucial Council meeting, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was promised better monitoring of nuclear plants. This was announced by the IAEA and the Iranian nuclear organization AEOI on Saturday evening. IAEA chief Rafael Grossi had previously held talks with Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi in Tehran.
Iran had recently advanced the enrichment of uranium to a very high degree of purity of 60 percent. This fueled international concerns that this material could be processed into nuclear weapons. This would only require a slightly higher degree of 90 percent. In addition, IAEA experts recently found traces of uranium with a purity of 84 percent in the nuclear facility in Fordow. Since then, the IAEA has been trying to clarify whether Iran deliberately reached this level, or whether it was an unintended, short-term spike, as Tehran argues.
Last year, the IAEA experts had to dismantle cameras and other surveillance equipment in Iran. Grossi announced after his return from Tehran that these should be back in operation shortly. Tehran also allows more frequent visits by inspectors to Fordow. However, details of the improved inspection mode still have to be clarified by the two sides, the joint statement said. Iran is ready to provide further information and allow inspections on the discovery of the 84 percent enriched uranium. “So far we haven’t gotten the cooperation we were looking for,” said Grossi in Vienna. The years of talks on the open questions would now last “too long”.