Iranian supreme leader addresses schoolgirl poisonings

(RT) ⸻ Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has branded a string of suspected schoolgirl poisonings an "unforgivable crime" and called for the "maximum punishment" of the perpetrators. The poisonings have affected hundreds of Iranian schoolgirls in recent months, triggering protests by parents and prompting some to take their children out of school altogether. On Saturday, Iran's interior minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli announced that investigators had recovered some samples potentially linked to the mystery. President Ebrahim Raisi suggested the poisonings might have been carried out by the country's enemies conspiring to create fear and despair in the people. Deputy Health Minister Younes Panahi suggested hardline religious groups who oppose women's education might have had a hand in the affair.