TEHRAN, March 3 (Xinhua) -- Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said on Friday that a series of poisoning incidents of schoolgirls across the country is the enemy's conspiracy to "intimidate and disappoint" the people in the country.
Raisi made the remarks in an address to a gathering in the southern province of Bushehr, where the president said he has ordered a thorough investigation into the incidents to "neutralize the enemy's conspiracy," according to the website of the president's office.
After waging "hybrid warfare" against Iran and attempting to create turmoil in its economy and foreign currency market, the enemy has resorted to causing insecurity in Iranian schools, he noted.
Also on Friday, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian censured Western officials for their "interventionist reactions" to the "suspicious" poisoning of schoolgirls in Iran.
Amir-Abdollahian made the remarks in a Twitter post, after the U.S. State Department spokesman and German foreign minister expressed concerns about the incidents and called on the Iranian authorities to investigate it.
Describing their remarks as part of the "enemy's hybrid warfare" against Iran, he emphasized that Iranians know very well who is "shedding crocodile tears."
Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Nasser Kanaani also criticized the "hasty, weird and theatrical" reactions of Western officials to the poisoning incidents, saying such reactions continue their "interventionist political stances" over the past months and are aimed at "achieving certain political objectives," according to a statement on the Foreign Ministry's website.
Over the past three months, several mysterious poisoning cases have been reported in a number of girls' schools in different Iranian cities, mainly in the northern province of Qom.
The first case was reported on Nov. 30 in Qom, where 18 schoolgirls were transferred to medical centers after having poisoning symptoms, the official news agency IRNA reported.
Later, other schools in Qom, the western province of Lorestan, the northwestern province of Ardabil, the western province of Kermanshah and even the capital Tehran also reported similar cases, the IRNA said.
So far, more than 700 students in over 30 schools across the country have fallen victim to such incidents, it added, saying in most of the cases, the students were released from the hospital soon after receiving treatment.
Raisi issued the directive for investigating the schoolgirls' poisoning at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, asking the interior minister to remove parents' worries and public concerns about the incidents.
In a briefing on Wednesday, U.S. State Department Spokesman Ned Price said the reports on the Iranian schoolgirls' poisonings are both "disturbing" and "concerning," calling on the Iranian authorities to thoroughly investigate the issue.
On Friday, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said reports of "poison attacks" on schoolgirls in Iran are "shocking and must be investigated fully." ■
