Poison attacks on girls’ schools in Iran have been increasing for months, presumably to prevent women from attending school. Ten more attacks are now being reported in Ardabil and Tehran. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi also got involved.

After numerous cases of poisoning at girls’ schools in Iran, President Ebrahim Raisi has intervened. He announced on his website that Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi would from now on continuously provide information about the status of the investigation into the mysterious incidents. He entrusted Vahidi “to allay the fears of the relatives,” it said.

On Wednesday, Iranian media reported new poisoning attacks at a total of ten girls’ schools, seven in the northwestern city of Ardabil and three in the capital Tehran. More than 100 students were hospitalized. Poisonings at girls’ schools in Iran have been reported again and again for about three months, with authorities suspecting an attempt to exclude girls from schooling. The exact course of the poison attacks and who is responsible have not yet been clarified.

According to an Iranian MP, almost 1,200 schoolgirls with shortness of breath had to be treated by a doctor, 800 of them alone from poisoning in the city of Qom, south of Tehran. The substances used against the girls in Qom apparently contained traces of nitrogen.