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Sharif University of Technology[/caption]Coursera, one of the major websites of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC), has blocked access to its services for users in Iran in compliance with US sanctions on the Islamic Republic over Tehrans nuclear energy program.
Courseras restriction of its offerings to students in Iran come after US regulators obligated US companies and universities to obtain special permission to provide sanction-hit nations with online courses.
Certain United States export control regulations prohibit US businesses, such as MOOC providers like Coursera, from offering services to users in sanctioned countries, including Cuba, Iran, Sudan, and Syria, read the statement posted on the official blog of Coursera on Wednesday.
As of this week, students [from sanctioned countries] attempting to log into course pages on our site or create new accounts will be restricted from access to these resources, the statement added.
Taking a similar stance, a UK-based international publisher, Taylor & Francis Group, banned the publication of scientific articles by Iranian scholars in July, 2013. The company, which publishes books and academic journals, called on its editorial network not to publish articles by Iranian scholars who are financially supported by the Islamic Republics administration.
In April of the same year, the publishing giant Elsevier of the Netherlands also demanded that its journals reject articles by Iranian scholars working in administrative capacities.
The United States, Israel and some of their allies have repeatedly accused Iran of pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program, with the US and European Union using the claim as an excuse to impose illegal sanctions against Tehran.
Iran rejects the nuclear allegations and maintains that the aim of illegal sanctions is to prevent the Islamic Republic from achieving scientific progress.
By Press TV
The Iran Project is not responsible for the content of quoted articles.
