Iran Slams US Restrictions on TOEFL, GRE Access as ‘Stone Age Behavior’

Iran Science Minister Slams US Academic Sanctions as ‘Stone Age Behavior’

Iran’s Science Minister Hossein Simaei Sarraf on Tuesday criticized new US sanctions restrictions affecting Iranian students’ access to international academic examinations, calling the move “Stone Age behavior.”

According to Iran’s ISNA news agency, Simaei Sarraf said the United States was using sanctions to pressure Iran into surrendering and had imposed various restrictions on the country over the years.

He particularly criticized restrictions affecting Iranian students seeking to take international standardized tests, including the TOEFL and GRE, which are commonly required for university admissions and academic opportunities abroad.

“Simply taking an exam with Iranian nationality and citizenship is being prohibited,” Simaei Sarraf said, describing the measure as an unprecedented academic restriction.

The remarks came amid uncertainty over the continued availability of international testing services for Iranian students. The US Treasury on August 24 suspended General License G, a sanctions authorization that had been in place since 2014 and allowed US universities and testing companies to provide certain educational services to Iranians, including some standardized examinations.

Simaei Sarraf said Iranian universities, students and researchers had already faced academic restrictions for years, arguing that further limits on educational testing would deepen the impact of sanctions on Iran’s academic community.