An American university this month issued a ban on Iranians attending engineering and science programs.

An American university this month issued a ban on Iranians attending engineering and science programs, NBC News reported

The University of Massachusetts said it has introduced the ban to comply with federal sanctions.

It said that it would ban all Iranians from enrolling in certain graduate programs in its College of Engineering and College of National Sciences.

In 2012, the U.S. introduced a law that excludes Iranian nationals from studying in America if they were planning to work in nuclear or energy fields in an effort to prevent the Iranian government from developing its nuclear program.

The new UMass admission policy document states: “In August 2012, Congress enacted the ‘Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act of 2012,’ which excludes citizens of Iran from education in the United States if they plan to focus on nuclear and, more broadly, energy related research in Iran.”

The decision, which was faced by criticism, led the university to request “clarification on the whole issue,” from the State Department.

“I guess it’s within the realm of possibility that based on what the State Department says we may change our position in some way, but that remains to be seen,” a spokesman, Daniel Fitzgibbons, said.

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