Today, Tuesday, the security authorities in Iran announced the arrest of a number of people in 5 provinces, suspected of being involved in poisoning cases that spread to girls' schools across the country about 3 months ago.

Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi stressed the need to know the sources of threats targeting the safety of students and take the necessary measures to deter them and work to prevent them from recurring, indicating that his country faces comprehensive threats and that the intelligence services must work to monitor, detect and confront them.

Today, Iranian media reported that new cases of poisoning were recorded in the residence of the University of Medical Sciences in Isfahan.

And social networking sites published pictures that it said showed the students leaving the university dormitory and the presence of vomiting among them.

Zahedan Medical University also announced the transfer of 41 students from schools in the city of Zahedan to hospitals after symptoms of poisoning appeared on them.

Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei had described yesterday the exposure of Iranian schoolgirls to poisoning during the past months as an "unforgivable" crime that should be punished with death if it is proven that it was intentional.

State television quoted Khamenei as saying, "The authorities should seriously pursue the issue of poisoning the schoolgirls...if it is proven that it was deliberate...the perpetrators of this unforgivable crime must be punished with death."

Commenting on this issue, White House spokeswoman Karen Jean-Pierre described the poisoning of the girls as shameful.

And she said - during her daily press conference - "If these poisonings are related to participation in the protests, then the investigation is within the powers of the United Nations Independent International Fact-Finding Mission in Iran."

It is noteworthy that more than a thousand Iranian girls have been poisoned in various schools across the country since last November, according to state media and officials.

Some politicians have suggested that religious groups opposed to girls' education may have targeted schoolgirls.

The poisoning incidents that began in Qom, central Iran, spread to 25 out of 31 provinces, prompting some parents not to send their daughters to school and to organize protests.