Arsalan Shahla

At least 14 schools have been targeted across four cities after they were first reported in November at a secondary school in the theological city of Qom.

Hundreds of schoolgirls were taken to hospitals across Iran on Saturday, state media reported, as suspected chemical attacks on the country’s girls schools continued.

The United Nations atomic watchdog said Iran still needs to explain precisely how uranium particles enriched to just-below weapons grade came to be at one of its fuel facilities, walking back assertions made just hours before by Tehran’s top nuclear official that the issue was settled.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urged officials to “seriously pursue” cases of suspected poisonings at girls’ schools around the country, which left hundreds of students hospitalized and sparked nationwide anger.

Several people in Iran have been arrested over a wave of suspected poison attacks at girls’ schools that have hospitalized thousands of students since they were first reported four months ago, a senior government official said.

Iran and the US will soon carry out a prisoner exchange, the Islamic Republic’s foreign minister said, in a deal that will likely involve several dual US-Iranian nationals detained in Tehran.

Iran said it welcomes any diplomatic effort to improve relations with its Gulf neighbors and wants to repair ties with more Arab countries following last week’s accord with Saudi Arabia.

Iran shot down a “suspicious” drone near a military site in the central province of Isfahan, state TV reported.

Iran lashed out at the US after its rare move to disclose the deployment of a guided missile submarine in the Middle East over the weekend, amid heightened tensions and violence in the region.

A Saudi delegation arrived in Tehran on Saturday to plan for the reopening of the kingdom’s embassy in the Iranian capital, the latest step in a thaw of relations between the regional rivals.