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Iranian students in Britain face suspension over new US sanctions: Report

Sunday, 16 December 2018 8:06 AM [ Last Update: Sunday, 16 December 2018 9:08 AM ]

University of Reading student Parsa Sadat (By The Guardian)

Iranian university students in Britain are being affected by Washington’s newly re-imposed sanctions on the country, with some facing suspension because they are unable to pay their tuition fees, according to a report.

US sanctions have targeted money transfers from Iran, making it difficult for families to financially support their children studying abroad.

Law student Parsa Sadat, 23, of the University of Reading in Berkshire, England, is among those Iranians who risk being unable to graduate, and possibly having their student visa removed, even though he has already paid £30,600 to cover his first two years, The Guardian reported.

The university has warned Sadat that the “only viable option” is for him to travel to Tehran over Christmas and return with cash to pay his £5,350 tuition fees for the next term.

Appalling. US sanctions mean Iranian students in the UK have to fly home and get a wad of cash, or face suspension from their courses. Surely there's another way around this absurd problem. https://t.co/rbcKsCDdoB
— Dr Zareen P Bharucha (@b_zareen) December 15, 2018

“This should hopefully provide you with sufficient time to bring the money back from Iran after the Christmas break. If payment is not received by this date, you would be suspended from your course,” according to an email from a senior university official, obtained by The Guardian.

Sadat said he has received at least six threats of suspension, most recently on December 5.

“I am not in a unique position. One of the other students has his parents coming and bringing in cash. They’re hitting ordinary people. It’s basically an economic blockade,” he told the British newspaper.

It is not clear how many Iranian students studying in the UK are affected by the sanctions but the London-based Iranian Association described their plight as really sad.

“The university has an opportunity here to be seen to take a stand against a clear injustice that flows directly from President Trump’s policy towards Iran,” said Sadat’s tutor, Mai Sato, associate professor in criminology.

Iranian students in the US are facing similar problems.

An Iranian-American friend that moved back to Iran can't pay back her student loans because of sanctions. FAFSA officers don't understand, she said.

"It's a federal loan, so theoretically how can I repay the US government when they almost make it impossible for me to do so?"
— Holly Dagres (@hdagres) September 19, 2018

Trump in May withdrew from the 2015 multilateral Iran nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which had seen sanctions lifted in exchange for Iran limiting its nuclear program.

In November, the Trump administration announced the re-imposition of the “toughest” sanctions ever against Iran's banking and energy sectors.