NBC News:

One student called on the Trump administration to separate the Iranian regime from its people.

 Iranian university students who planned to study in the United States said that their academic careers have been derailed by the Trump administration’s visa ban on people from their country.

Mohamad Enayati, a 28-year-old civil engineering student, said he had spent years attempting to obtain a visa to study in the U.S., stressing out his family with every rejection and losing touch with friends along the way. Navigating an already lengthy visa process for Iranian students had been difficult enough, he said, only for his future to be thrown into limbo by the ban and then the U.S. bombing of Iran’s nuclear sites over the weekend.

“My parents are really hurt to see me after what I’ve been through,” Enayati said. “My only plan was to study and get a Ph.D. in the United States. If that doesn’t happen after all I’ve struggled, after all I’ve been through — I really can’t imagine.”

The students said, however, that by blocking their education in the U.S., the Trump administration unfairly paints Iranians with a broad brush, conflating them with the regime they happen to live under.

“We cannot be punished because of the place that we came from, the place that we were born,” said Hadis Abbasian, an Iranian cancer researcher who has been waiting for her visa for months. “It wasn’t our choice.” 

The State Department pointed NBC News to a list of limited exceptions to the ban, which include visas for ethnic and religious minorities facing persecution in Iran, as well as individuals adopted by American citizens and participants in certain major sporting events.

“The Department of State is committed to protecting our nation and its citizens by upholding the highest standards of national security and public safety through our visa process,” a State Department spokesperson said.

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