New Delhi: As thousands of schoolgirls in Iran have suffered from cases of mysterious 'poisoning' since November last year, the country's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Monday said that the poisoning of schoolgirls is an "unforgivable" crime that should be punished by death if deliberate, Reuters reported citing state TV.
The poisonings have come at a critical time for Iran's clerical rulers after months of protests since the death of a young woman held by police for flouting hijab rules, as per Reuters.
"Authorities should seriously pursue the issue of students' poisoning," Khamenei was quoted as saying by state TV.
"If it is proven deliberate, those perpetrators of this unforgivable crime should be sentenced to capital punishment," he added.
The poisonings began in November in the city of Qom, a highly religious city about 80 miles from Tehran, and spread to 25 of Iran's 31 provinces, prompting some parents to withdraw their children from school and protest.
Though authorities have accused the Islamic Republic's "enemies" of using the attacks to undermine the clerical establishment, suspicions have fallen on hardline groups operating as self-declared guardians of their interpretation of Islam.
Earlier on February 26, the Iranian deputy health minister said, "After the poisoning of several students in Qom schools, it was found that some people wanted all schools, especially girls' schools, to be closed," the IRNA state news agency reported.
In the US, President Joe Biden's press secretary called the poisonings shameful on Monday.
"The possibility that girls in Iran are being possibly poisoned simply for trying to get an education is shameful, it's unacceptable," Karine Jean-Pierre said at a news briefing.
The White House called for an independent investigation to determine if the poisonings were related to protests, which would make it well within the mandate of the United Nations fact-finding mission on Iran, according to Reuters.
(With inputs from Reuters)