Thread by @criticalthreats

Over 110 separate student poisonings were reported throughout #Iran on March 6. Some have framed these incidents as “mass hysteria.” They’re not.  Someone is deliberately poisoning Iranian children—we’re just not sure who. (1)
#مسمومیت_دانش_آموزان

Hundreds of students—primarily #IranianSchoolgirls--reported chemical attacks in recent weeks, especially since March 1. Their symptoms include nausea, chest pain, numbness of limbs, and more. (2)

bbc.com/news/world-mid…

Some have compared these recent reports to previous instances of “mass sociogenic illnesses,” in which presenting symptoms are caused by anxiety rather than—in this case—chemical attacks. (3)

theguardian.com/world/2023/mar…

Mass sociogenic illness isn’t completely implausible in #Iran. The #IslamicRepublic has, indeed, stoked fear and even terror through its brutal treatment of Iranian girls, especially those who participated in the #MahsaAmini protests. (4)

rferl.org/a/iran-schoolg…

No one wants to believe that anyone would deliberately poison schoolgirls, but dismissing the countrywide, months-long chemical attacks as psychogenic won’t do. (5)

Regime officials *themselves* have acknowledged that some form of intentional poisoning is occurring in Iranian schools, although they deny the extent and scale of these reports. (6)

Reports of chemical attacks have now expanded beyond a single demographic—Iranian schoolgirls—to schoolboys and teachers at targeted schools. (7)

https://twitter.com/1500tasvir/status/1632703800480874498?s=20

#Iranian officials today stated that tested samples consisted of multiple chemicals, consistent with reports from a Tehran doctor treating poisoned patients. (8)

Iranian media and social media reports suggest that several individuals have required ICU treatment after the poisonings, too, and some hospitals are crowded with victims. (9)

https://twitter.com/1500tasvir/status/1632748849390407681?s=20

The regime’s response to mass poisonings in #Iranian schools is also unlike what any civilized country’s reaction to countrywide reported attacks on some of the most vulnerable segments of its population would be. (10)

The Iranian police only announced that they would deploy security personnel to protect schools today—more than three months after the first reported poisoning occurred. (11)

Security personnel and school officials behaving normally wouldn’t violently handle distressed students following an attack as some Iranian officials have. (12)

https://twitter.com/RadioFarda_/status/1632016020121571329

Some students reported being told to immediately return to class following a reported attack, an almost unimaginable response in most countries. (13)

https://twitter.com/iranworkers/status/1630966434435145728

It is unclear who is perpetrating these chemical attacks on #Iranian children. But someone is making them happen. (14)

And regime officials have been behaving oddly. Iranian girls are not hysterics. Iranian officials aren’t all monsters. Something odd and awful is happening in Iran. We hope to understand it soon. (15)

And, of course, we hope that it will stop at once. (16)