My question is why all of the world's largest companies fall in line with this so easily, especially when some have official support for persian/Iran. How does that dynamic between Corporation and US Government really work?
Personally I think many corps want to avoid any hassle and prevent any problems they may face. The laws are complicated and if they see a slim chance that they get into some legal problem they prefer not to do any kind of trade.
I really wonder about the case of coursera which is basically no trade and it is just to prevent some nationals to access knowledge supposed to be "accessible to all people". To me it's some sort of racism.
And the Iranians don't have enough money to make it worthwhile for US companies to take up their cause politically.