May 12, 2023
by Warren L. Nelson
Iran’s Intelligence Ministry says flatly that there have been no poison attacks on any schools in the country and that the hundreds of incidents widely reported over the last five months have been the result of mass hysteria and of such things as stink bombs, often used by prankster students seeking to avoid going to classes.
The Intelligence Ministry complained that foreigners have tried to exploit the incidents to disrupt the country and cause trouble for the regime.
The statement read more like a political manifesto than a true investigative report. But it came down flatly saying no poison was ever used, contradicting statements made by many regime leaders, including the Supreme Leader himself.
In a statement released April 28, the Intelligence Ministry laid out the final results of the investigation it said it carried out.
The ministry said there were five factors behind the incidents across the country since November 30: stink bombs; pepper sprays; panic-inducing odorous agents; “anti-security goals;” and mass hysteria. The report did not emphasize mass hysteria, however.
The ministry said “malingering” was among the causes of the incidents, with students aiming to skip classes and exams, and in a few cases, to cause tumult and riots.
“Toxic substances have not been spread in any of the country’s schools, but non-toxic agents that have caused panic have been used inadvertently or intentionally in some reported settings,” the statement said.
It added that “several people” charged with using non-toxic substances have been identified, summoned or arrested.
It underlined its key finding that there was no organized network distributing substances across the country. But it charged that many groups both inside and outside the country spread rumors to incite fear, close schools, provoke parents to protest and deliberately blame the Islamic establishment for the incidents.
The statement said a “significant number” of such networks have been identified, and their members have been or will be prosecuted, though no such prosecutions have been reported in the media.
The Intelligence Ministry highlighted the “completely obvious and undeniable” role of the country’s “enemies” in fueling incidents. The term “enemies” is used by the regime to mean the West in general and the United States in particular. It said individuals, groups and the Western media focused heavily on the issue in the past few months. But no specific people or organizations were named.
“Also, a number of foreign politicians and foreign institutions and international organizations fueled the conflict, forming a link in the chain of hybrid warfare,” the statement said.
As for the minority of students who were hospitalized for treatment, the report said nearly all recovered quickly through simple treatments such as oxygen, saline and dextrose intravenous injections and sedatives to treat anxiety.
The report also said a “considerable number” of students had faked illness after other students in the same school said they were ill.
It said the largest number of reported cases were in Khuzestan.
News reports have long said the “poisonings” started in Qom November 30, but the Intelligence Ministry said the first incident actually took place in Noor, Mazandaran Province, on November 6.
Many Iranians believe the attacks, which mainly target girls’ schools, were perpetrated by the regime itself to try to stop ongoing protests, or by a network of extremists who oppose education for girls.
The Interior Ministry several weeks ago said more than 100 persons had been arrested for provoking incidents, but the report said nothing about them. There have been no follow up reports about those 100 arrests, prompting suspicions that no one was really arrested and the police were just trying to create the impression they were actively on the case. There have been no announcements of any trials or convictions.
In March, the local channel of state television in Shiraz aired the “confessions” of a man and his daughter admitting that they had thrown cannisters of nitrogen gas into schools to cause panic. But the report said nothing about nitrogen being used anywhere. Nitrogen is not a poison and wouldn’t cause the kinds of symptoms being reported by schoolgirls.
The Intelligence Ministry report was clearly the regime’s effort to bring the rash of incidents to a close. But it wasn’t clear how serious the investigation was. No one knows exactly how many schools reported incidents—probably a few hundred. The report did not say how many schools were visited by the investigators and did not give any statistics on how many instances of stink bomb use it uncovered or how many incidents were put down as cases of mass hysteria.
The one area where the report was clear and concrete was where it said that laboratory tests found no instances of toxic substances. But the report did not say from how many schools it found substances of any kind to test.
“Poisoning” incidents continue to be reported almost every school day somewhere in Iran. Since schools re-opened after the Now Ruz holidays, there have been a growing number of reports of protests by parents complaining that the regime is doing nothing to protect their daughters from attacks. At a number of schools, mothers have surrounded school buildings to stop strangers from entering and protect their daughters.
The Iran Times reported in its last issue that no teachers or other staff at schools were reported injured, lending credence to the mass hysteria theory. But in recent weeks, some teachers have been reported as victims of “poison” attacks.
The Intelligence Ministry report came out days after a Health Ministry report said, “In 95 percent of the cases, symptoms were the result of mental and psychological tensions and not gas attacks,” thus asserting that the incidents were overwhelming the result of mass hysteria in the eyes of the Health Ministry.
The education minister earlier blamed “naughty students trying to skip classes.”
The Interior Ministry has issued four reports, blaming either students or an unnamed “enemy.” It was the Interior Ministry that reported the arrests of 100 perpetrators across 11 provinces, a report subsequently ignored.
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenehi has twice commented on the incidents, emphasizing the need to punish those behind the “attacks.” But the only people who seem to have been punished are journalists who have reported on the incidents, much to the displeasure of the authorities. The UN complained of “a pattern by Iran authorities to silence all who try to report or demand accountability for human rights violations.”
The main impact of the “poison” scare appears to be to reduce the already low level of respect for the regime. Even many regime supporters seem to suspect the regime is behind the “attacks” in an effort to end the anti-regime protests.
