According to state media, an Iranian deputy minister stated on Sunday that "some people" were poisoning schoolgirls in the holy city of Qom with the intention of preventing girls from receiving an education.
Since the end of November, hundreds of schoolgirls in Qom, south of Tehran, have been diagnosed with respiratory poisoning, with some requiring hospitalization.
Younes Panahi, the deputy health minister, impliedly confirmed that the poisonings were deliberate on Sunday.
According to the IRNA state news agency, Panahi stated, "After the poisoning of several students in Qom schools, it was found that some people wanted all schools, especially girls' schools, to be closed."
He did not go into detail. The poisonings have not yet resulted in any arrests.
According to IRNA, on February 14, sick student parents gathered outside the city's governorate to "demand an explanation" from the authorities.
The following day, the intelligence and education ministries, according to government spokesman Ali Bahadori Jahromi, were investigating the poisonings.
A judicial investigation into the incidents was ordered by Prosecutor General Mohammad Jafar Montazeri this past week.
The poisonings occur at a time when Iran has been rocked by protests since the 22-year-old Iranian Kurd Mahsa Amini's death in custody on December 16 for allegedly violating the country's strict dress code for women.
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