Iranians have reacted with a mix of grief, sarcasm, and political recrimination after the US-based Educational Testing Service (ETS) confirmed it has suspended the TOEFL and GRE exams in Iran, cutting off a pathway to foreign study for thousands of students who had spent months, in some cases years, preparing for the tests.ETS told RFE/RL's Radio Farda in a written statement that it had "paused administration of the TOEFL and GRE tests in Iran effective immediately," citing the US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and its suspension of General License G, which since 2014 had authorized US educational providers to offer certain services, including standardized testing, to people in Iran despite broader US sanctions.The suspension is part of a sweeping package of new sanctions the administration of US President Donald Trump rolled out on August 24 under what Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called an "economic onslaught" against Iran's financial networks worldwide.
Alongside General License G, OFAC also indefinitely suspended General License F, which had permitted sports-related exchanges between the United States and Iran, and several other licenses covering nongovernmental and personal transactions. A short wind-down period for existing activities runs through September 8, after which any such activity will require a specific OFAC authorization.The move marks a sharp reversal from earlier in the year, when Washington and Tehran had reached a memorandum of understanding seen as a possible opening toward ending the war and broader sanctions relief.Limiting Opportunities For StudentsFor test-takers, the practical effect was abrupt. Appointment calendars for the TOEFL in Iran, which had been bookable as far out as January, shrank within a day to just two test centers near Tehran offering slots through September 5, before disappearing entirely. The suspension follows a similar move by Duolingo, which said days earlier that its English test was unavailable in Iran and to users with Iranian identification documents. IELTS, administered by the British Council and IDP Education, has been effectively unavailable inside Iran since January.Many responses on social media centered on the human cost to students who had no say in the geopolitics driving the decision.
