Belgium’s Top Court Issues Decree To Swap Iranian Diplomat

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on Friday described the wave of poisonings of hundreds of schoolgirls around the country as part of a psychological war by the enemies meant “to instill stress and anxiety among students and parents, creating chaos.” He did not say who those enemies are but in the Islamic Republic jargon, the ‘enemies’ usually mean as the United States and Israel, and recently every entity and individual who has expressed support for the current wave of antiregime protests.

“One day, the enemies instigate street riots and another day they try to create problems in the field of education and schools because despite all the plots, people across the country came to the scene and defeated the enemy,” he said, and then referred to state-sponsored demonstrations in February to mark the 44th anniversary of the regime as a victory. 

Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian on Friday also hit out at Western governments. “The interventionist reaction of some Western authorities to the question of the suspected poisoning of dear Iranian female students is the continuation of the enemy's hybrid war,” he wrote in a Twitter post.

He claimed that “the relevant institutions of the country are following up seriously and meticulously examining its dimensions. The great nation of Iran knows crocodile tears very well!” He made the remarks as the authorities have not yet allowed media or parents to view the content of surveillance cameras around the schools, which were attacked. 

The so-far unexplained poisonous gas attacks at about 60 schools and girl dormitories in one-third of the country’s provinces began November 30 when the first case of poisoning among schoolgirls was reported in the religious city of Qom. Around 1,000 students have become ill with the mysteriously dispersed, unidentified fumes so far. The country's interior minister, Ahmad Vahidi, an ex-IRGC top officer wanted by Interpol for his part in the bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires in 1994, has been tasked with leading the investigation, though he has so far denied fowl play.

Many suspect the schools have been targeted by religious groups opposed to girls' education. The authorities have also denied reports that the death of 11-year-old Fatemeh Rezaei was linked to the poisonings. 

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani urged other countries not to comment on the issues in Iran and described the calls for investigations by right groups and officials as “interventions and dramatic” statements.

Meanwhile, even religious leaders – both Shiites who are among the inner circles of the regime and Sunnis such as Mowlavi Abdolhamid -- have spoken out against government’s inadequate reaction to the poisonings.

Tasnim news agency, affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards, cited Reza Karimi Saleh, the deputy governor of Pardis suburb where one of the attacks happened as saying that a fuel tanker driver was arrested because he was next to a school and had also been spotted in two other cities. "Guards at a parking lot where the fuel tanker was parked also suffered from poisoning."

Many have started questioning the efficiency of the intelligence agencies, which are very fast in identifying protesters and arresting them, while others say those responsible for the gas attacks are not identified because the regime already knows they are insiders.

In Geneva, the United Nations human rights office on Friday called for a transparent investigation into the attacks. Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said on Friday that "We're very concerned about these allegations that girls are being deliberately targeted under what appear to be mysterious circumstances.” She said that the findings of a government investigation should be made public, and the perpetrators brought to justice.

Government officials and most lawmakers are still either silent or making vague statements about the attacks often denying that they represent a serious danger to thousands of students.

Meanwhile, a seasoned journalist and lecturer on media has criticized state officials and the media for their inaction in the face of the criminal attacks.

Prominent conservative cleric Abdollah Javadi Amoli said in a meeting with the Minister of education on Thursday that "It is horrendous that officials have not pinpointed the origin of the attacks after three months since the students were gassed in Qom in October. He warned the minister that people will judge officials based on what they do rather than what they say.

Probably pointing out allegations about government forces being involved in the gas attacks, the cleric said military power works in the war front, but what works at schools is education. You cannot correct people's behavior using weapons.

Meanwhile, former reformist lawmaker Tayebeh Siavashi also said in an interview with Etemad Online that it is still not known why the government has not informed the media and the public of the results of toxicological reports. She said the officials behave in a way as if they have just woken up now and found out about the gas attacks.

She also criticized the government for keeping silent about the attacks until they became so widespread that everyone found out about them.

Another cleric and former Reformist lawmaker Ahmad Mazani said in an interview with Rouydad24: "Fanatics in the pre-Islamic period buried girls alive. Gas attacks on girls in modern times is another way of expressing opposition to women's presence in the society." He added that attacks are at the same time a psychological warfare against women and their families to dissuade them from sending their daughters to school.

Mazani also criticized officials for their silence about the attacks for a long time after they started. This is an important issue and Iranian families are deeply worried about it, so, the government should begin news dissemination about the attacks. Mazani added that the government should apologize to the nation for its silence. He also called on top clerics to speak out in the face of fanatic behavior and the advocacy of religious extremist and Taliban-like ideology in Iran.

In another development, prominent journalist and lecturer on journalism Fereydoun Sedighi in an interview with Khabar Online harshly criticized the government media and state officials for their inaction and wrong behavior. However, he added that media in Iran are no longer the people's point of reference for news because they have always published or broadcast official jargon about various developments.

Sedighi charged that not only Iranian officials are not accountable for what they say and do, they also fuel controversy with their irresponsible statements. There have been so many cases of chemical attacks on female students during the past three months, but the officials kept silent for a long time, and now that they have started to talk, they mainly deny what people have seen and what happened to their children.

As Iran International's Morad Veisi said in a news program about the role and performance of the Islamic Republic's security organizations in the gas attacks: "Either the Islamic Republic's 17 security and intelligence organizations are inept and inefficient and have failed to find the perpetrators of the attacks, or the government and its intelligence services know about them, approve of them and are happy about them."

In a press conference, State Department spokesman, Ned Price, simply said the US engages regularly with its Israeli partners. "We have traveled to the region; our Israeli partners have traveled here. I expect that will continue in the coming days, weeks, and months."

However, on Israeli news site Axios, reports claim that Israeli Minister for Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer and national security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi, are expected to visit Washington early next week for meetings with senior Biden administration officials that will focus on Iran.

The visit comes in the wake of news from a top US defense official, Colin Kahl, the undersecretary of defense for policy, that Iran will need only 12 days to enrich enough weapons-grade uranium to build one nuclear bomb.

In public, the US has said it does not believe Iran has made the decision to resume its weaponization program but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials have stressed in recent weeks the need for a credible military threat against Iran.

On Tuesday, Kahl said that since the Trump administration withdrew the US from the Iran nuclear deal in 2018, Tehran's nuclear progress has been "remarkable."

He added that before the Trump administration left the nuclear agreement, Iran needed a year to break out and get enough 90% enriched uranium for one nuclear bomb.

Both Dermer and Hanegbi are at the helm of Israel's Iran policy and are expected to meet White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan, Secretary of State Tony Blinken and other senior US officials, according to Axios.

The visit takes place amidst growing domestic tensions in Israel in the wake of the new right-wing government, and tensions growing across the West Bank.

The outspoken cleric said in his Friday prayer sermons that inaction by authorities in not identifying the perpetrators is a form of revenge and repression against young people who support antigovernment protests of ‘Women, life, and freedom.’ 

Referring to the reports that blame “an unknown group” for the attacks, he said, "What is this group that has not been identified yet? Who believes that security and military officials do not know what happened? When even a small and trivial problem is quickly dealt with, how can incidents of this magnitude remain unresolved?”

"Many are of the opinion -- and this assumption is close to the truth -- that these poisonings are a form of suppression of protests; both by the group that targets the girls and those who are aware of the circumstances of these incidents but do not stop them," Abdolhamid noted. 

Some prominent Shiite clerics have also spoken out about the mysteries surrounding the attacks, which have left around 1,000 girls sick or hospitalized since November.

On Friday, reformist politician and jurist Rasoul Montajabnia said that those behind such attacks believe that literacy for girls is “dangerous,” adding that some religious fanatics resort to such actions in the name of zeal and defending hijab. He also rejected the idea that the country’s intelligence agencies are incapable of identifying the attackers. Similar remarks were made by senior clerics, including Hossein Noori-Hamedani and Abdollah Javadi Amoli. 

Amnesty International and UNICEF issued statements on Thursday to condemn the attacks, which many have described as intentionally ignored by the regime. 

Schoolgirls have been “at the forefront of protests and many bravely defied discriminatory compulsory veiling laws,” Amnesty said, noting that such attacks raise concerns of increasing gender-based violence against women and girls for standing up for their rights. 

On Friday, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, joined foreign leaders in condemning the attacks. She said, "Girls must be able to go to school without fear... This is nothing less than their human right. All cases must be fully investigated."

White House national security spokesman John Kirby expressed deep concerns about the poisonings as the world demands answers as to who the culprits are and what the agent being used is.

At least 58 schools in one-third of the country’s provinces have been attacked by unidentified gases since November 30 when the first case of poisoning among schoolgirls was reported in the religious city of Qom. Around 1,000 students have become ill with the mysteriously dispersed, unidentified fumes so far.

The country's interior minister, Ahmad Vahidi, an ex-IRGC top officer wanted by Interpol for his part in the bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires in 1994, has been tasked with leading the investigation, though has so far denied fowl play.

A teachers’ union in Iran and some other activists have urged people to stage a protest on Tuesday to condemn school gas attacks, demanding an explanation from the Supreme Leader.