Islamic Republic Government Issues National Codes to Afghan Citizens and Foreign Nationals as New Policy

The Islamic Republic government has adopted a new policy by issuing national codes and identification cards to foreign nationals.

Afghan citizens who have migrated from their country to Iran and become refugees for years have not only been deprived of any refugee rights, but their children born in Iran have also remained without identity since identification cards were not issued to them.

Now, following the outbreak of nationwide protests calling for the overthrow of the system and its internal collapse, the government has adopted new policies. In addition to hiring foreign forces to suppress the people again and using children or elderly individuals for this purpose, it intends to exploit Afghans and other foreign nationals who are refugees in Iran.

According to published reports, the political deputy of the governor of Razavi Khorasan stated: “Within the framework of the plan to digitize information on foreign nationals residing in Iran, each foreigner will be assigned a unique ten-digit code or identifier similar to the national code of Iranians. This unique identifier is recognized as a unified code by the civil registry, traffic police, the Ministry of Interior, and other institutions, and all services will be provided to foreigners using this code.” He also added that with the introduction of this unified identifier in the thirteenth government, we will witness facilitation in service delivery to foreign nationals.

By implementing this new policy, the government intends to involve foreign nationals in state elections, since the Iranian people declared in protests that they will not participate in any government elections. Furthermore, it is not unlikely that they will also be used to suppress the people in exchange for remaining in Iran.