Tehran
\nIran has announced over 100 arrests nationwide over the mystery poisonings of thousands of schoolgirls, charging that the unidentified alleged perpetrators may have links with \u201chostile\u201d groups.
\nIn the wave of cases since late November, schoolgirls have suffered fainting, nausea, shortness of breath and other symptoms after reporting \u201cunpleasant\u201d odours on school premises, with some being treated in hospital.
\nState media reported late on Saturday that the interior ministry had announced the arrests over the suspected poison attacks in more than 200 schools, which have sparked fear and anger among pupils and their parents.
\n\u201cMore than 100 people who were responsible for the recent school incidents were identified, arrested and investigated,\u201d the ministry said in a statement, carried by state news agency IRNA.
\n\u201cAmong those arrested are people with hostile motives and with the aim of instilling terror in the people and students and to close schools.\u201d
\nThe ministry added that \u201cfortunately, from the middle of the last week until today, the number of incidents in schools has decreased significantly, and there have been no reports of sick students\u201d.
\nThe statement pointed at possible links to an Albania-based exiled Iranian opposition group that Tehran considers a \u201cterrorist\u201d organisation, the People\u2019s Mujahideen of Iran or Mujahideen-i-Khalq (MEK).
\n\u201cThe investigation of these criminal people, including the discovery of their possible connection with the terrorist organisations such as the MEK and others, is ongoing,\u201d reported IRNA.
\nThe poisonings started two months into the protests that gripped Iran following the September 16 death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, an ethnic Kurd who had been arrested over an alleged violation of strict dress rules for women.
\nIran has blamed those protests, which it commonly labels \u201criots\u201d, on hostile forces abroad linked to its arch-foes the United States, Israel and their allies.
\nMore than 5,000 pupils have been affected in approximately 230 schools across 25 out of Iran\u2019s 31 provinces, the latest official tally said.
\nThe ministry said arrests were made in the provinces of Tehran, Qom and Gilan in the north, Razavi Khorasan in the northeast, West Azerbaijan, East Azerbaijan and Zanjan in the northwest, Kurdistan and Hamadan in the west, Khuzestan in the southwest and Fars in the south.
\nSupreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had last Monday called for the perpetrators of the \u201cunforgivable crime\u201d to be tracked down \u201cwithout mercy\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Tehran Iran has announced over 100 arrests nationwide over the mystery poisonings of thousands of schoolgirls, charging that the unidentified alleged perpetrators may have links with \u201chostile\u201d groups. In the wave of cases since late November, schoolgirls have suffered fainting, nausea, shortness of breath and other symptoms after reporting \u201cunpleasant\u201d odours on school premises, with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":319136,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-319128","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n