Iran: More Schools Targeted In Chemical Gas Attacks As Protests Escalate – OpEd

Dozens of schools in Iran were targeted in the ongoing string of chemical gas attacks by regime operatives on Saturday. This trend is continuing today with similar attacks in three cities on Sunday, including Isfahan, Tabriz, Urmia, Ilam, and Kermanshah, with signs indicating these attacks will only escalate throughout the day.

Parents and locals in different cities were seen protesting on Saturday and chanting anti-regime slogans in response to attacks on their children. In some areas regime security forces were seen attacking the concerned parents and protesting crowds.

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.

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

• 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 hospitalized and a number are said to be in dire conditions.
• 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 following are some of the reports from the chemical gas attacks targeting various schools across the country on Saturday:

• A number of schoolgirls have fallen ill following a poisonous gas attack targeting the all-girls Esmat School in Malard, west of Tehran, according to local activists.
• People are rallying outside Tehran’s District 5 Education Dept. protesting the recent poisonous gas attacks targeting all-girls schools. “Our enemy is right here! They lie in saying it’s America!” and “Incompetent officials, shame on you!” they’re chanting.
• People are also gathering outside Tehran’s District 7 Education Dept. protesting the recent poisonous gas attacks targeting all-girls schools. “We don’t want incompetent officials!” they’re chanting.
• The Seyed Jamaledin Assad Abadi school in Tehran’s Abdol Abad district is another target of the recent string of poisonous gas attacks against all-girls schools across the country.
• Parents of schoolkids are gathering outside Ardabil’s Education Department in northwest Iran following the recent poisonous gas attacks that targeted at least seven all-girls schools and left more than 400 schoolgirls ill.
• A number of students in an all-girls school in the city of Kavar in Fars Province, south-central Iran, have fallen ill following a poisonous gas attack targeting the facility.
• People are rallying outside Tehran’s District 2 Education Dept. protesting the recent poisonous gas attacks targeting all-girls schools and demanding answers. “Official, come out!” they’re chanting.
• Students of an all-girls school in Shahriar, west of Tehran, are being transferred to hospitals after smelling poisonous gas in their facility.
• Tension was reportedly escalating outside Tehran’s Education departments in districts 8, 5, and 1. Clashes were being reported in District 8.
• Locals and parents of schoolgirls rallied outside the Education Dept. in Tehran’s Shamiranat district to protest the recent poisonous gas attacks targeting schoolgirls. “Down with the child-killing regime!” they chanted.
• Boys from two schools in the capital’s Tehransar district refused to attend their classes in support of girls who were targeted in recent gas attacks in the same district.
• People in Tehran are protesting the recent gas attacks targeting schools across the country. “Basij and IRGC, you are our ISIS!” and “We don’t want a child-killing regime!” they’re chanting.
• Regime operatives are launching new gas attacks. The all-girls Towhid School in Shahriar, west of Tehran, was targeted and students were transferred for medical care.
• Parents in Isfahan, central Iran, are rallying outside the city’s Education Dept. protesting the recent poisonous gas attacks targeting schools. “Acid attacks and poisonings are both crimes!” / / “Secure schools is our right!” / “We don’t want incompetent officials!” they’re chanting.
• Students of the all-girls Ahmad Fatehi School in the Eslamabad district of Karaj, west of Tehran, are being transferred to hospitals after their facility came under a poisonous gas attack.
• Reports indicate another all-girls school in the city of Lahijan, northern Iran, was the target of a poisonous gas attack by regime operatives.
• Locals and parents of schoolgirls rallied outside the Education Department in the city of Ardabil, northwest Iran, to protest the recent poisonous gas attacks targeting schools.
• Regime authorities in Tehran are attacking parents worried about their children following recent poisonous gas attacks by regime operatives. Many were arrested today.
• Reports indicate regime operatives launched yet another poisonous attack targeting a school in the town of Parand in Tehran Province.
• Parents are rallying outside Tehran’s District 2 Education Dept. protesting the recent poisonous gas attacks targeting schools. “Death to the Taliban, be it in Iran or Afghanistan!” they were chanting.

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.

“We express our sympathies to the parents of the students affected by the chain poisoning of schoolgirls in various cities of Iran, and we salute their resistance and protest against this criminal regime. Khamenei is seeking revenge on the girls who played a decisive role in the recent uprising in Iran. We urge the UN and relevant agencies, such as UNICEF and the UNSRVAW, to investigate and respond firmly,” the NCRI President-elect emphasized.

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.

Mahmoud Hakamian writes for PMOI/MEK, which published this article