We have already lifted restrictions for Syrians as the OFAC (Office of Foreign Assets Control) has a general license for educational content (Syria General License No. 11A) issued. We are working with the State Department and OFAC for licenses or exemptions for the other affected countries and we hope to get the remaining blocks lifted soon.
More info at http://blog.coursera.org/post/74891215298/update-on-course-a...
Should you get nowhere regarding Cuba and Iran, it might not even be too bad to forward a link to this discussion to sympathetic people at the State Department. I think we have a nice tech-community oppiniometer and some interesting talking points here.
Like others, though, I'm glad to hear you're doing something about it. Well done.
Under the law, certain aspects of Coursera’s course offerings are considered services and are therefore subject to restrictions in sanctioned countries
Is that the case?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_embargo_against_C...
Criminal penalties for violating the embargo range up to ten years in prison, $1 million in corporate fines, and $250,000 in individual fines; civil penalties up to $55,000 per violation.