Supreme chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had known as Monday for the perpetrators of the “unforgivable crime” to be tracked down “with out mercy” as public anger mounts.

The inside ministry mentioned in a press release on Tuesday “quite a few individuals” suspected of producing hazardous substances had been arrested in six provinces, together with a pupil’s mum or dad.

Iran’s deputy inside minister, Majid Mirahmadi, informed state tv earlier on Tuesday that the “intelligence companies” had made a number of arrests, “and the related companies are conducting a full investigation”.

Scores of Iranian colleges have been hit by poisonings since late November, with pupils struggling signs starting from shortness of breath to nausea and vertigo after reporting “disagreeable” odours on faculty premises. Some have been handled in hospital.

“Twenty-five (out of 31) provinces and roughly 230 colleges have been affected, and greater than 5,000 schoolgirls and boys poisoned,” Mohammad-Hassan Asafari, a member of the parliamentary fact-finding committee, informed the ISNA information company on Monday.

“Varied exams are being carried out to determine the kind and reason behind the poisonings. To this point, no particular data has been obtained relating to the kind of poison used.”

The thriller poisonings have triggered a wave of anger and calls for for motion from the authorities.

Additionally learn: Revenge poisoning? Many Iran schoolgirls sick after attainable poisonous gasoline assaults

In accordance with the inside ministry assertion, arrests had been made in Khuzestan, West Azerbaijan, Fars, Kermanshah, Khorasan and Alborz provinces.

A type of arrested had allegedly used their youngster to insert the “irritant” into the varsity, after which recorded movies of sick college students which had been despatched to “hostile media” to “create worry… and shut colleges”, the assertion mentioned.

It added three suspects have prison data “together with involvement within the current riots”, a time period utilized by the Iranian authorities to explain the protests sparked by Mahsa Amini’s dying in custody.

Amini, 22, had been arrested over an alleged violation of strict costume guidelines for ladies and died on September 16.

‘Worry and despair’

President Ebrahim Raisi tasked the inside and intelligence ministries final week with offering steady updates on the poisoning instances, dubbing them “the enemy’s conspiracy to create worry and despair” among the many individuals.

“In lower than 5 p.c of the scholars transferred to hospital, irritant supplies had been discovered which led to their ill-health,” the inside ministry mentioned on Monday.

“Luckily, to date, no poisonous or harmful substances have been present in any of the scholars transferred to medical centres.”

Deputy well being minister Saeed Karimi mentioned signs included “respiratory irritation, abdomen ache, weak point and lethargy”.

“These inhaled irritants could not essentially be a gasoline however could also be within the type of a powder or paste or perhaps a liquid, which when poured over a heater or vaporised by warmth may cause problems,” he added.

The newest case — reported by the ISNA information company — concerned 40 pupils, all of them feminine, within the restive southeastern metropolis of Zahedan on Tuesday.

The White Home known as Monday for a “credible unbiased investigation” into the poisonings.

The primary instances had been reported in Iran’s Shiite clerical capital of Qom in late November, a month after the Amini protests that later unfold to universities and colleges.

On Tuesday, Tehran prosecutor Ali Salehi warned “those that unfold lies and rumours” concerning the poisonings that “they are going to be handled decisively and legally,” the judiciary’s Mizan On-line web site reported.

“Up to now week, courtroom instances and expenses have been filed in opposition to the managers of the Hammihan, Rouydad 24 and Shargh media, in addition to a number of people,” Salehi added.