He escaped an abusive father, wrote scientific papers by flashlight during power outages, and scored a university scholarship — all before turning 18. But now, Pooya Karami, a once-homeless Iranian teenager with dreams of changing the world, is seeing them shattered by Trump's travel ban.

'We, the Iranian students, are the youth who never had a childhood,' Karami told Daily Mail in an exclusive interview from inside Shiraz, Iran.

 After Karami's father—battling severe mental illness—cast his wife and children from their home, they scraped together borrowed money from financially strapped relatives to rent a cramped 40-square-meter basement on Shiraz's outskirts.

To get by, Karami's mother and six-year-old sister sold their modest collection of jewelry to fund a single university application fee.  His mother's sacrifice of her precious gold jewelry became a defining moment for Karami, as he realized the profound devotion of his mother sustained him through unimaginable hardship.

After a year of meticulous preparation of crafting university applications and pouring his heart into personal essays—Karami finally received his golden ticket: admission to Pittsburg State University's polymer chemistry program in April this year.

'In a country crushed under unbearable economic, social and political pressures, I managed, despite all hardships, to publish two scientific papers, something that might be ordinary for many people my age around the world, but for a young Iranian like me, it is nothing short of a miracle.'

Just a few months later, the travel ban was announced, and Karami's world was turned upside down. Iran is among a dozen countries included in that travel ban signed by President Donald Trump in June. Unlike the travel ban implemented during Trump's first term, this version includes no exceptions for admitted students.