Asghar Jafari said the students suffered shortness of breath at a school in the Baghmisheh Township of Tabriz and ambulances were dispatched to take them to a hospital.
Jafari added that the students’ health condition is stable.
A number of girl schools in Iran were the scene of poisoning incidents that caused panic among students and their families before the Nowruz holidays.
What happened in Tabriz is the first similar incident in the new Iranian year.
Iranian officials began a thorough investigation into the poisonings to establish their exact cause.
The leader of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Khamenei demanded harsh punishment for those responsible if it is proved that the poisonings are the result of an act with criminal intent.