TEHRAN

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Monday termed the serial poisoning of schoolgirls a “big and unforgivable sin,” calling on the authorities to “seriously pursue the matter.”

“If it is proven that the students were poisoned, the perpetrators of this crime should be severely punished. There will be no amnesty for these people,” he said, in a video released by his office.

His remarks came as cases related to serial poisoning of schoolgirls continue to be reported from different cities across Iran even as investigations continue to find the cause of the mysterious illness.

A report in the Persian-language Etemaad newspaper on Saturday put the total number of poisoning cases at more than 2,000 since November last year, when the first cases were reported.

The report said a total of 125 schools in different Iranian cities, including the capital Tehran, have reported cases of this mysterious illness so far, sending ripples of shock across the country.

Last week, Shahriar Heidari, a member of the Iranian parliament’s internal security and foreign policy commission, cited a “reliable source” as saying that “nearly 900” schoolgirls had been poisoned.

The first cases of these serial poisonings were reported last November when at least 18 schoolgirls from one of the schools in the central Iranian city of Qom were transferred to a hospital.

The students complained of symptoms such as nausea, headache, breathing problems, cough and body pain. It followed similar incidents in other girls’ schools in the city.

Cases reported from several cities

In recent weeks, the wave has spread to cities and provinces including Tehran, Ardabil, Isfahan, Khurramshahr, Kermanshah, Azerbaijan, Bandar Abbas, Urmia, Ahwaz, Zanjan, Mashhad etc with hundreds of schoolgirls admitted to hospitals, according to local media reports.

In most recent cases, at least 30 students from three schools were transferred to medical centers in central Zanjan city on Sunday for symptoms of poisoning, reports said.

Similarly, dozens of cases were also reported each from Tabriz, Khorasan, Isfahan and Bandar Abbas.

President Ebrahim Raeisi last week ordered an investigation into the issue and asked Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi to find the cause of the issue that has triggered protests in some cities.

Addressing a public rally in the southern Iranian city of Bushehr on Friday, Raeisi said the poisoning of schoolgirls was part of the “hybrid war” against Iran to “foment unrest”, in a veiled attack on the US.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian also took to Twitter to decry Western countries, in particular Germany, for their “interventionist reaction” to the issue.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock in a tweet on Friday said the Iranian girls “must be able to go to school without fear”, and that “all cases must be fully investigated.”

White House national security spokesperson John Kirby, for his part, called it a “deeply concerning news.”

Zahra Sheikhi, a spokesperson for the Iranian parliament's fact-finding committee probing the matter, said on Sunday the issue will be “followed up until the results are achieved.”

In recent days, there had been rumors about the death of students as a result of serial poisoning in the cities of Qom and Pakdasht, but the rumors were dismissed by officials and families.

Interior Minister Vahidi in a statement on Saturday night said “suspicious samples” were discovered during investigations and have been sent to top laboratories for examination.

Yousef Nouri, Iran’s education minister, in his remarks on Sunday, apologized to parents for the hysteria related to the serial poisonings and stressed that investigations are underway.