Tehran, Iran – When the United States threatened an 'economic D-Day' for Iran, announcing a series of new sanctions, the Trump administration said it sought to cripple its adversary economically. But to many Iranians, the latest measures appear targeted at them, rather than the government and its leadership.
Previous sanctions have contributed to making Iranians poorer by triggering a currency collapse, leading to surging food and medicine prices. They have financially isolated Iranians through blocked bank transfers and digital exclusion through restricted software, cloud services and platforms. The US travel ban has dashed countless dreams.
As part of 'Operation Economic Outcast', the Trump administration last week expanded secondary sanctions in five more key economic sectors impacting civilian life — aviation, digital assets, gold, shipping and technology. These were added to a comprehensive list that includes financial sectors, construction and manufacturing, among others. Any person anywhere in the world engaging with these sectors may be designated as a blocked party under US secondary sanctions.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) also indefinitely suspended education-related general licences that permitted limited cooperation with Iran by American universities or people, including academic exchange programmes and certain nonprofit education services. Other suspensions target sports activities, conferences, and non-commercial personal remittances.
The suspension of General License G is already quietly impacting thousands of young Iranians. Educational Testing Service (ETS), which holds TOEFL and GRE exams, paused administration of the tests in Iran. Duolingo went further by banning English language tests for all users holding only an Iranian ID, including those outside Iran.
Many Iranians planning to obtain language certificates were taken by surprise. In a Telegram group with 25,000 members, frustrated users reflected on the news. Faezeh said, 'I couldn't stop crying for two days, but so what? I won't let it stop my plans for going to an English-language country.' She now must calculate the additional costs of going to Turkiye or Armenia to take the test.
Some are creating petitions and gathering signatures, while others are calling on diaspora Iranians to raise awareness or downvoting Duolingo on app stores. Danial, a young Tehran-based man, told Al Jazeera: 'Truly, who are these types of sanctions hurting? It feels like they are taking Iranians out of the list of accepted human species.'
The Trump administration has tried to distinguish between the Iranian people and the government, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio saying he knows of 'no other country where there's a bigger difference between the people who lead the country and the people who live there'. However, Trump's online post declaring 'Iran is officially a Failed Nation. IT IS DEAD!' offers little solace to those whose futures are now in limbo.
Source: www.aljazeera.com