Faced with international outcry for inaction over the chemical gas attacks on school and university girls, the Islamic Republic authorities have started to blame them on “enemies.”
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."
Nourani-Nejad wrote in a commentary in the reformist daily Eteamadon Wednesday that a number of parallel institutions should be created to enhance the performance and dynamism of the Reform Front.
The politician's comment came one day after the chairman of the Reform Front Behzad Nabavi, nicknamed by Iran's political activists as "the old guerrilla" announced his resignation.
Nourani-Nejad wrote that the need for democracy in Iran demands a new coalition. "This comes while the front is expected to start a new round of activity, but no one expects any particular change in its approach.” He argued that the Reform Front does not show any inclination other than advocating minor reforms, calling for democratization, and representing active reformist parties.
The politician was probably referring to the rigidity of the structure and nature of the grouping which is often criticized to be operating like a clan rather than a political organization. One of the flaws in this system's traditional structure is that former President Mohammad Khatami is believed to be its leader while he has always rejected or ignored the suggestion.
Protests since September have shown that a significant and younger segment of Iranians no longer believe that the Islamic Republic can be reformed and they demand a secular and democratic political system.
The reform front lost its popularity mainly because of the performance of its members in the previous parliament (2016-2020). Ironically, the Reform Front's chairman at the time, Mohammad Reza Aref, kept silent in the parliament for four years! In the subsequent election the reformists won less than 3 percent of the votes partly because of his inaction.
Nourani-Nejad said that keeping the Front as it is will further weaken it or lead to fragmentation within the front. Meanwhile, he called for a more broad-based alliance among pro-reform groups and parties as a solution that might revive the grouping.
Reformist daily Arman-e Emrooz carried a commentary Wednesday about reactions to Reform Front chief's resignation. Many believe Nabavi's resignation was motivated by reasons that stemmed from within the front, although Nabavi himself has said: "My two year term of office as chairman has ended so I no longer have any position. I am also old and ailing and unable to contribute."
Some members however believe that the resignation is a reaction to radical positions adopted by some other reformists. Reformist activist Fatemeh Rakei said Nabavi has resigned probably because popular demands have become more intense and reformists should come up with a strategy to position themselves in the changing political environment.
Nabavi, born in 1942, a senior member of the leftist Islamic Revolution's Mujahedin Organization (IRMO) has held positions such as deputy prime minister and Minister of Industry in the 1980s. He was one of reformists who was arrested and reportedly tortured during the post-election unrest in 2009. During the recent protests Nabavi was one of the first politicians who took a clear stance and "called for the continuation of the reform movement but added that reformists cannot join the protests in the streets."
Another political activist Ahmad Hakimipour told Arman that many reformists had already decided that they needed essential changes and reshuffling. It is not clear where the school of thought that the Islamic Republic can be reformed is headed. He added that the reforms, as we know it, is not attractive for the younger generation who took to the streets during the past months.
Mostafa Rasteh Moghaddam, another reformist figure welcomed Nabavi's resignation as an event that can lead to some kind of rotation of elites and put an end to the Front's rigid structure and approaches.