Fury in Iran as officials fail to address schoolgirls' poisonings

A correspondent in Tehran

Iranian Armenian schoolgirls walk home after class in the Julfa neighbourhood in the historic city of Isfahan, some 400 kms south of the capital, Tehran on April 21, 2015. Julfa neighborhood in Isfahan is where the biggest Armenian community in Iran resides and was established as an Armenian quarter by Persian Safavid King Shah Abbas I in 1606. Some 180.000 Armenians were living in Iran before the Islamic revolution in 1979, compared to some 60000 today, according to official figures. Most of the community — Iranian Armenian schoolgirls walk home after class in the Julfa neighbourhood in the historic city of Isfahan, some 400 kms south of the capital, Tehran on April 21, 2015. — BEHROUZ MEHRI/AFP via Getty Images

TEHRAN — Several Iranian cities were rocked once again this week by a new wave of what has been called mysterious poisoning of mostly schoolgirls.

The new wave of gas attacks followed a brief respite during Iranian new year holidays, for which schools are closed for two weeks starting from late March.

The cities targeted, according to opposition outlets and some state media sources, included the capital Tehran, Karaj, Saghez, Sanandaj, Kermanshah, Urmia, Oshnavieh, Shahinshahr, Tabriz, Khoy and Amol.

The Islamic Republic’s attack with chemical gas on Farzanegan 1 girls' school in Sanandaj, Kurdistan. April 10, 2023.pic.twitter.com/n7QN6JL37c

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Fury in Iran as officials fail to address schoolgirls' poisonings

Iranian authorities either looked the other way or blamed the students, failing to soothe the public rage at the fresh suspected gas attacks on schoolgirls.

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