"As of December 2018, US sanctions were reportedly affecting hundreds of Iranian university students in the UK, preventing them from being able to readily pay their tuition fees and forcing them to choose between abandoning their studies or using dangerous means to transfer funds.In December 2010 it was reported that the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control had approved nearly 10,000 exceptions to U.S. sanctions rules worldwide over the preceding decade by issuing special licenses for American companies.