A young woman lies in hospital after reports of poisoning at an unspecified location in Iran in this still image from video from March 2, 2023.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi blamed the nation’s “enemies” on Friday for the recent series of incidents in which noxious fumes have sickened hundreds of schoolchildren, particularly girls, across the nation.
In a speech to a crowd in southern Iran that was carried live on state television, Raisi said the nation’s “foes are trying to create unrest in the various fields in the country.”
He said Iran’s “enemies said seek to cause problems on the streets, markets, and in schools to disappoint the Iranian nation.”
Iran’s state-sponsored news agency IRNA reported earlier this week that Raisi ordered an immediate investigation of the schoolgirls’ poisoning in more than 30 schools in at least four cities going back to November, including in Iran’s Shi’ite Muslim holy city of Qom.
