The Iranian regime is tolerating a country-wide, coordinated campaign to poison Iranian school girls.
Social media users documented incidents of chemical poisoning at 26 girls’ schools throughout the country on March 1 alone.[1] Hundreds of Iranian schoolgirls have reported respiratory and neurological poisoning symptoms since November 2022, many of whom have required hospitalization.[2] The first reported incident occurred on November 30, 2022, in Qom City, Qom Province when 18 Shahed Razaviyeh Secondary School students reported experiencing nausea, coughing, difficulty breathing, heart palpitations, and lethargy.[3] Initial poisoning cases primarily affected female high school students in Qom. In recent weeks, however, poisoning cases have spread across Iran and have also targeted elementary, middle school, and university students, as well as less frequent incidents at boys’ educational facilities.[4] CTP recorded a significant increase in poisoning cases on March 1, with students from at least 26 schools falling ill. Most poisonings on March 1 occurred in Tehran and Ardabil Provinces.[5] It remains unclear why these cities appear to have been disproportionately targeted.
The regime's failure to protect Iranian schoolgirls from the ongoing poisoning campaign is exacerbating anti-regime sentiments.
Russia is possibly concerned that Iranian-backed militias will target US military positions in eastern Syria in the coming days or weeks.
At least five protests occurred in three cities across two provinces on March 1.
Raisi administration-controlled Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported on March 1 that prominent Sunni cleric and regime critic Moulana Abdol Ghaffer Naghshbandi fled the country.
The value of the Iranian rial appreciated to 546,500 against the US dollar.
Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Mohammad Eslami denied reports that Iran has enriched uranium to 84 percent purity while acknowledging the fact that traces of 84-percent enriched uranium were discovered at one of Iran's nuclear facilities.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov discussed normalization efforts between Turkey and the Assad regime with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on March 1.
Unidentified senior Russian military officials met with their SAA counterparts near Tel Rifaat, Aleppo Province on February 28.
Israel Alma, an Israeli think tank focused on regional security issues, released a report claiming that as many as 1000 alleged Iranian aid convoys have entered Syria from Iraq and Lebanon since February 6.
https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/iran-update-march-1-2023
Iran Crisis Update, March 2, 2023
The Iranian regime has apparently failed to take measures to protect schools following 46 separate reports of chemical poisonings targeting schoolgirls throughout the country on March 1.
The regime is taking short-term measures to address economic grievances that will exacerbate Iran’s economic crisis in the long run.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian gave an interview with CNN on March 1 likely in an attempt to convince the United States to return to the suspended nuclear negotiations.
CTP did not record protest activity on March 2.
Raisi administration officials struck a conciliatory tone on March 2, and stressed the need to address deepening divides between Iranian leadership and its people.
Prominent Sunni cleric and regime critic Moulana Abdol Ghaffar Naghshbandi ‘s family stated in an interview with Radio Farda on March 2 that they are not aware of his whereabouts.
Iranian officials and state-affiliated news outlets reported on increased Russo-Iranian economic ties on March 2.
The Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued new sanctions targeting Iranian energy exports on March 2.
Bloomberg reported on March 2 that Iran is seeking to obtain S-400 air defense systems from Russia, citing insider sources.
The US Naval Forces Central Command announced that US forces supported a UK-led interdiction of an illegal Iranain weapons shipment in the Gulf of Oman on February 23.
Iraq’s Parliamentary Security and Defense Committee went to Diyala to discuss “security breaches” likely in response to the 20 February massacre of Sunni civilians.
Former Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki is attempting to return to Iraqi politics as a major political actor.
https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/iran-update-march-3-2023