A new decision by the U.S. government to intensify sanctions on the Islamic Republic will mean that Iranian students who need to take international tests such as the TOEFL or GRE in order to enter university or receive academic and professional credentials cannot take these exams.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the U.S. Treasury announced on September 2 that General License G, which since 2014 had made it possible to provide a range of educational and university services to Iranians, has been suspended “indefinitely” as of that date.

This suspension means that the general legal coverage that U.S. companies relied on to provide such services to Iranians can no longer be used.

Paragraph four of the educational services section of the license explicitly refers to “professional certification exams and university entrance exams, including standardized multiple-choice tests.”

According to it, U.S. persons anywhere in the world were allowed to provide these exams, as well as the services needed for admission to U.S. universities, to individuals who are in Iran or live outside Iran but are considered “typically resident in Iran.”