Iran’s president orders probe of poisoning at girls’ schools

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran’s president has ordered authorities to investigate a series of incidents in which noxious fumes have sickened students at girls’ schools, which some officials suspect are attacks targeting women’s education. Hundreds of girls at around 30 schools have been sickened since November, with some winding up in hospital beds. Wednesday’s presidential order comes after officials initially dismissed the incidents, only acknowledging the scope of the crisis in recent days. Unlike neighboring Afghanistan, Iran has no history of religious extremists targeting girls’ education. Women and girls continued attending school even at the height of the 1979 Islamic Revolution that toppled Iran’s Western-backed monarchy.