US State Department Spokesperson Ned Price said the poisonings across the country, now affecting dozens of schools and university dormitories since November, must be "stopped immediately". Referring to speculations about the regime’s intention to take revenge on schoolgirls for their participation in the protests ignited after 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died in custody of morality police, Price told a news conference, “If these poisonings were found to be related to women and girls’ participation in protest, then it would be within the mandate of the UN’s Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Islamic Republic of Iran to investigate. There are conflicting reports about the number of schools, girls, and cities affected by the attacks, not least, due to the suppression of both free media and internet access across the country