A gathering of parents outside an Education Ministry building in western Tehran on Saturday to protest over the illnesses turned into an anti-government demonstration.

The so-far unexplained illnesses have affected hundreds of schoolgirls in recent months. Iranian officials believe the girls may have been poisoned and have blamed Tehran's enemies.

The report says, the Islamic nation continues to curb the rights of women by poisoning schoolgirls to stop them from getting an education.

An Iranian deputy minister on Sunday said "some people" were poisoning schoolgirls in the holy city of Qom with the aim of shutting down education for girls.

According to reports, the deputy health minister, Younes Panahi, confirmed the poisonings had been deliberate. A recent spate of mass illnesses at girls’ schools in Iran was caused by deliberate poisoning using “chemical compounds,” a senior Iranian health official told the Fars news agency.

Several cases of respiratory poisoning were reported in Qom, located 160 kilometers from Tehran, in November last year with some needing hospital treatment. "After the poisoning of several students in Qom schools, it was found that some people wanted all schools, especially girls' schools, to be closed," the IRNA state news agency quoted.

So far, there have been no arrests linked to the poisonings.