March Is Women’s History Month, But Not in Iran

Hundreds of Iranian schoolgirls have experienced poisonings, sending shockwaves throughout the Islamic Republic of Iran. Human rights groups suspect extremist religious factions may be responsible for the attacks in order to create a climate of fear that would deter attendance in schools and protests since September 2022.

At the upcoming Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) Executive Council meeting on March 14, the Biden administration and its allies should raise this deeply troubling development.

In honor of Women's History Month, President Joe Biden called on Americans to "create a nation where women and girls know their possibilities know no bounds." The opposite is true in Iran.

Since November, Iranian schoolgirls have been poisoned in over fifty schools. Reports of nausea, numbness in limbs, difficulty breathing and heart palpitations have been issued by the New York Times. These attacks have forced some girls to stay from attending school: one teacher stated that out of 250 students only 50 attended classes. Iran's interior minister has blamed "stress" for the girls' symptoms and denounced foreign news outlets for inciting worry.

In response to the poisonings, the students' families protested, chanting, "we don't want unsafe schools." A leaked video shows the arrest of one mother.

The poisonings come amid the nationwide protests that broke out in September when twenty-two-year-old Mahsa Amini died in custody after being arrested by Tehran's morality police for wearing her hijab incorrectly. The protests condemn the clerical regime's brutality and call for its end.

While Iran's intelligence ministry and security forces are investigating these incidents, there is no record of credible investigations conducted by Iran. For example, its officials deny that rapes are occurring in prisons, that Tehran has arrested thousands of protestors, and that security forces have killed hundreds of peaceful demonstrators.

A student described the contradictory answers after being poisoned twice. While the school told her “All is good, we’ve done our investigation,” the school told her father that the closed-circuit television surveillance had been down for a week and that it was impossible to investigate. It was incorrectly claimed that the student had a heart condition that caused the painful symptoms.

In February, a leaked Iranian government document revealed the Islamic Republic had concealed information regarding Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) agents having raped female protesters. As justification, it cited fears of this being shared on social media and misinterpreted by hostile groups. On CNN, Christiane Amanpour interviewed Iranian foreign minister Amir-Abdollahian about this incident and was met with a denial of the allegations, which were dismissed as "baseless". However, Amanpour countered this by reminding him that it had been reported by an individual within the country. More recently, in response to these reports US State Department spokesman Ned Price urged a full investigation into the matter. Denial is evidently part of Tehran's modus operandi. It's not enough.

At the OPCW Executive Council meeting in March, the United States should raise this issue. At upcoming meetings, Ambassador Joseph Manso should raise the issue to recommend a full investigation by the OPCW. Iran would likely not agree to such an investigation but should raise it now.

To investigate Assad's use of chemical weapons in Syria, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) established the Investigation and Identification Team (IIT). The IIT found that the Syrian Arab Air Forces likely conducted a chemical weapons attack that killed 43 people and injured many more.

As part of the UN Human Rights Council's fact-finding mission into Iran's human rights abuses related to the protests, it should now consider the poisonings as part of its investigation.

A third-party investigation into the poisoning attacks is necessary since the Islamic Republic has a history of concealing the truth. The international community must have a credible investigation to ascertain culpability. In December, Iran was removed from the UN Commission on the Status of Women because of a pattern of human rights abuses.

The resilience of women in Iran will not fade even as the Islamic Republic continues to undermine their rights. In honoring Women's History Month, Biden and the international community must take action.