Take the news with a big grain of salt because it comes from IRNA, the state-run news agency. It is being reported that Iran has arrested more than 100 people in connection to the serial poisoning of schoolgirls in that country. Iran’s Interior Ministry released a statement that the people connected to the poisonings had been “identified, arrested, and investigated” in several cities, including the capital Tehran.

“Initial inquiries show that a number of these people, out of mischief or adventurism and with the aim of shutting down classrooms and influenced by the created psychological atmosphere, have taken measures such as using harmless and smelly substances,” the statement read.

The problem with that statement is that it indicates the Iranian government isn’t taking the poisoning of thousands of schoolgirls seriously. That isn’t surprising, though, since it is likely that the regime is behind it all anyway. The poisonings are meant to intimidate the girls from organizing and participating in anti-regime protests. The protests began after the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman, who was accused of violating the dress code by the morality police. She was arrested, beaten by police, and died in jail. They have been organized and led by women and students throughout the country, not just in Tehran. The regime is increasingly showing frustration at its inability to completely tamp down the protest movement.

The poisonings have not been just cases of mischief. The consequences of the poisoning on its victims have been substantial in many cases. Girls have been hospitalized for medical care in response to the attacks. “Mischief” sounds benign, like toilet papering a classmate’s yard, or other juvenile pranks. Whether or not the attacks are successful, they are nefarious by nature. They are conducted by men who are trying to shut down the protests against the regime, doing the bidding of the regime. The regime pretends as though it is outraged by the attacks.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei previously called the suspected poisonings an “unforgivable crime” and called for “severe punishment” for anyone found responsible.

Among those arrested, the ministry said, were “individuals who have had hostile motives, tried to create fear and horror among people and students, shut down schools, and created pessimism toward” the Iranian government.

They would remain “under investigation until required assurances are achieved,” the statement said, adding that the number of poisoning cases at girls’ schools across the country had been decreasing “over the past several days.”

No one, besides the protesters, is doing anything in Iran without the permission of the regime. Iran is anything but a free society. No one (with the exceptions of John Kerry and Joe Biden) believes a word the regime says. Some of the symptoms experienced by the girls include nausea, shortness of breath, numbness in legs and hands, as well as difficulty in walking.

The United States and the United Nations have called on Iran to fully investigate the poisonings and hold those responsible to account.

Previously, the Biden administration had noted Iran itself was conducting an investigation. But questioned by CNN’s Phil Mattingly on Monday, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the situation could fall within the mandate of the UN’s independent fact-finding mission on Iran.

“We are closely following this deeply concerning situation that we’re seeing in Iran,” she said. “The continued poisoning of schoolgirls across Iran is unconscionable. There must be a credible, independent investigation (and) accountability for those responsible.”

She said if the poisonings were related to recent protests, it was “well within” the UN fact-finding mission’s mandate.

“The possibility that girls in Iran are being possibly poisoned for simply for trying to get an education is shameful, it’s unacceptable,” she said.

Too bad the Biden administration is such a weak player on the world stage and the U.N. is feckless. Those schoolgirls and their families are on their own. We’ll see where these alleged arrest lead, if anywhere.