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Escalating chemical gas attacks across Iran rendering anti-regime protests

By Mahmoud Hakamian
Iran - poisonous gas attacks - schoolgirls - Mashhad - March 5, 2023
An all-girls school in Mashhad, northeast Iran, was the target of a chemical gas attack by regime operatives - March 5, 2023

Latest update – 9:30 pm CET

Regime operatives in Iran have been behind a long series of horrendous chemical gas attacks targeting schoolkids across the country. There are reports of hundreds of schools being targeted and several hundred, if not thousands, of students being hospitalized for poisoning symptoms and suffocation symptoms.

Anti-regime dissent and protests are on the rise as parents and the general public are outraged at the barbaric nature of such horrific attacks targeting the country’s children. The regime’s contradictory reports and state media denying the entire issue by placing the blame on bogus reasons are only fueling the nationwide rage. Regime officials are concerned about this rising anger boiling into nationwide protests that may evolve into an uncontrollable phenomenon.

People throughout the country are specifically holding the mullahs’ Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei responsible for their miseries, while also condemning the oppressive Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and paramilitary Basij units, alongside other security units that are on the ground suppressing the peaceful demonstrators.

Protests in Iran have to this day expanded to at least 282 cities. Over 750 people have been killed and more than 30,000 are arrested by the regime’s forces, according to sources of the Iranian opposition People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK). The names of 664 killed protesters have been published by the PMOI/MEK.

On Monday morning, retirees and pensioners of the regime’s telecommunications industry in Ilam, Mashhad, Kermanshah, Isfahan, Bijar, Urmia, Yazd, and Ahvaz held rallies protesting their low pensions and poor economic conditions. This continues the previous rallies held in previous weeks in several more cities throughout the country.

In the past few years, retirees across Iran have been protesting their deteriorating living conditions, especially as the government refuses to adjust their pensions based on the inflation rate and fluctuations in the price of the rial, Iran’s national currency.

Regime operatives are continuing their gas attacks against schools in Iran on Monday. Reports indicate the Ali-Mohammadi School in Ilam, western Iran, a high school in Masal of Gilan Province in northern Iran, the all-girls Me’raj Elementary School in Quchan of northeast Iran, the University of Mohaghegh Ardabil in Ardabil of northwest Iran, and another school in the city of Marivan, also in western Iran, have been targeted. There are more such reports from other cities, indicating that Iranian schoolkids throughout the country are in grave danger and can’t even seek their elementary and secondary education without security concerns.

Iranian opposition coalition NCRI President-elect Maryam Rajavi condemned the ongoing chemical attacks by regime operatives targeting schools across the country and voiced sympathy with the suffering students and their families while strongly criticizing the mullahs’ regime.

“Belatedly, Khamenei has woken up and is looking for others to blame for poisoning schoolgirls in fear of uprising. But there’s no-one to blame other than himself, his agencies, and elements under his command. Otherwise, Khamenei must accept a visit by an international investigative mission which we asked the UN to form from Day 1. In the meantime, we must step up our protests and demonstrations,” the NCRI President-elect emphasized.

Locals in the city of Mahabad in northwest Iran took to the streets on Monday night protesting the regime’s recent chemical gas attacks targeting schoolkids. They were chanting anti-regime slogans, including “Death to the dictator!” specifically targeting regime Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

People in Tehran, including the Punak, North Shahin, and North Amirabad districts, began chanting anti-regime slogans on Monday night, including:
“Death to Khamenei, the murderer!”
“Death to the dictator!”
“Death to the child-killing regime!”
“Death to the republic of executions!”
“Mullahs must get lost!”

There are numerous other reports of the latest string of poisonous gas attacks targeting schoolgirls in different cities checkered across Iran on Monday:

  • Shahrekord — all-girls Molavi School
  • Gachsaran — all girls Kowsar School
  • Sanandaj — Shahed-e Jhila School
  • Lar — three all-girls schools of Edalat, Payam-e Zeynab, and Fatemiyeh; and two all-boys schools, Hadad Habib and Amir Kabir
  • Divandarreh — at least one school was targeted, leaving a number of students ill. People broke the doors of a hospital and forced themselves in.
  • Sari — Regime operatives launched a chemical gas attack targeting the Navvab School, leaving a number of students ill. Armed IRGC units were deployed to the school.
  • Maku — Maryam School
  • Takab — all-girls Parvin Etesami School

  • People are protesting outside the local governor’s office in the city of Divandarreh following chemical gas attacks by regime operatives targeting all-girls schools in this city.
  • Footage from the Divandarreh’s Khomeini Hospital emergency branch. At least four schools were targeted by regime operatives using chemical gas attacks. More than 60 students have fallen ill.
  • Regime operatives launched a chemical gas attack targeting an elementary school in Dehloran, a city in Ilam Province, western Iran, leaving a number of students ill. Many were transferred to hospitals.
  • Salmas — Kowsar School
  • Mashhad — all-girls Qaem Elementary School

  • Amol — all-girls Khanzad School
  • Salmas — some students are in dire conditions following a chemical gas attack by regime operatives targeting their school
  • Marand – Regime operatives launched a chemical gas attack targeting four schools, leaving a number of students ill
  • Mahabad – Gugtappeh School and the all-girls Saba School; reports hospitals are full of security agents preventing people from taking footage
  • Qeydar, Zanjan Province, northwest Iran
    —Regime operatives launched chemical gas attacks targeting a number of school
    —A hospital was full of patients
    —Security forces entered the facility & prevented any registrations

  • Qeydar, Zanjan Province, northwest Iran – Regime operatives launched chemical gas attacks targeting a number of school. A hospital was full of patients and security forces entered the facility preventing any registrations.
  • Nanaleh, near Sanandaj, Kurdistan Province, western Iran
  • An all-boys school in Isfahan, central Iran, and an all-girls high school in the city’s Zeynabiyeh district
  • Andimeshk, southwest Iran – Students were transferred to hospitals after seven schools were targeted in chemical gas attacks by regime operatives.
  • Babol, northern Iran
  • Sanandaj, western Iran – all-girls elementary school
  • Semnan, east of Tehran — all-girls Payambar-e A’zam High School

Retirees and pensioners of the regime’s Social Security Organization held gatherings on Sunday in the cities of Isfahan, Shushtar, Kermanshah, Shush, and Ahvaz, protesting low pensions and poor economic conditions.

Pensioners and retirees are among the worst-hit segments of Iran’s society. They depend on government stipends to make ends meet, but the regime has refused to increase their pensions in correspondence with growing inflation and the depreciation of the national currency.

The government has long provided many hollow promises of increasing pensions. It was also supposed to settle unpaid pensions remaining from previous years. So far, it has yet to deliver on both demands.

Interestingly, the regime’s own media reported that The Social Security Investment Company (SHASTA), the financial institution that is supposed to fund retirees, has seen a significant increase in its profits in the past years. However, these profits have yet to materialize in the lives of pensioners and retirees.

There were numerous reports regarding the poisonous gas attacks targeting schoolgirls in different cities checkered across Iran on Sunday:

  • Ambulances were sent to a girl’s dormitory in Urmia, northwest Iran, where reports indicate the facility was the target of a chemical gas attack by regime operatives early Sunday morning local time. A college student from the dormitory says the young women began showing symptoms of poisoning on Saturday afternoon. At least 73 students are ill, according to local sources.
  • Regime operatives launched a chemical gas attack targeting the all-girls “Payame Shahed” High School in Isfahan, central Iran.
  • A chemical attack was carried out by regime operatives targeting the all-girls Shayestegan School in Fuladshahr, Isfahan Province, central Iran.
  • Authorities in Tabriz, northwest Iran, have been deployed following a chemical attack by regime operatives targeting a school. A number of students have been transferred to hospitals for medical care.
  • Regime operatives launched a chemical attack early this morning local time in Ilam, western Iran, targeting the Qodsiye High School and Kheybar Elementary School, leaving at least seven schoolgirls ill. They were transferred to medical centers for attention.
  • Regime operatives launched a chemical attack targeting the all-girls Sedaghat School in Mashhad, northeast Iran, this morning. A number of the students are ill, reports indicate.
  • A similar attack targeted the Fatemeh Zahra School in Gonbad-e Kavus of northeast Iran; at least 27 schoolgirls became ill following chemical gas attacks in Abadan of southwest Iran;
  • Regime operatives launched a chemical gas attack targeting the “Nimeye Sha’ban School” today in the Garmdareh district of Karaj, west of Tehran.
  • A number of parents gathered outside the Education Department in Kashan, central Iran, to protest the chemical gas attacks targeting the city’s schools and their children.
  • Regime operatives launched a chemical gas attack targeting the Zeynab School of Ramhormoz in Khuzestan Province, southwest Iran. At least 60 students are ill, some are hospitalized and a number is said to be in dire condition.
  • Regime operatives launched a chemical gas attack targeting the all-girls Edalat High School in Shiraz, south-central Iran, leaving a number of students ill; a similar attack was launched against the all-girls Seyed al-Shohada School of Yazd in central Iran; the Javeed al-Asar and Fatemiyeh schools in the city of Hamadan, western Iran, were also targeted in today’s attacks.
  • Regime operatives launched a chemical gas attack targeting the all-girls Tadayon School in Mashhad, northeast Iran, leaving a number of students ill; another such attack targeted schoolgirls in Bandar-e Imam in southwest Iran and Zanjan, northwest Iran, leaving many students suffocating and in need of medical care.
  • Regime operatives launched a chemical gas attack targeting the all-girls Abu Reyhan School in Tehran, leaving a number of students ill; a similar attack targeted the Tavana High School in Ahvaz at 11:30 am local time, leaving a number of students ill. At least six other schools, including the Khayam School and Hazrate Roghayeh High School, were also attacked in this city.
  • The Somayeh High School in the city of Khalkhal in northwest Iran was also targeted by regime operatives in a chemical attack that left a number of students ill; a similar attack is reported from the city of Yasuj in southwest Iran targeting the Hejrat School.

  • Regime operatives launched a chemical gas attack in Malayer, western Iran, targeting the all-girls Shahed School, leaving a number of students ill; a similar attack has been reported in Tehran where regime operatives targeted two schools in the capital’s Ekbatan’s district; and the Boghrat School in the city of Neyshabur in northwest Iran was also the target of such a chemical attack today.
  • The all-girls Barekat School in the city of Sarableh in Ilam Province, western Iran, was also the target of a chemical attack today by the regime’s operatives.

The protests in Iran began following the death of Mahsa Amini. Mahsa (Zhina) Amini, a 22-year-old woman from the city of Saqqez in Kurdistan Province, western Iran, who traveled to Tehran with her family, was arrested on Tuesday, September 13, at the entry of Haqqani Highway by the regime’s so-called “Guidance Patrol” and transferred to the “Moral Security” agency.

She was brutally beaten by the morality police and died of her wounds in a Tehran hospital on September 16. The event triggered protests that quickly spread across Iran and rekindled the people’s desire to overthrow the regime.

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