A Chicago Tribune editorial
describes an incredibly bad restriction on publishing from
Iran. The U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets
Control (OFAC) is warning publishers that they may face serious legal
repercussions for editing books, papers or manuscripts from Iran or
any other country that is under economic sanctions, on the grounds
that such editing amounts to trading with the enemy.
Academics have always led the way in establishing relationships
between politically antagonistic countries. Scientists often have the
same research goals even if their politics or the politics of their
countries differ. Preventing publication of their work (or in this
case editing of their work) will unnecessarily restrict the
communication between scientists and make opening these doors between
countries harder.