Iran is introducing digital ID to buy food

Blog post by Marica Micallef

Iran is the first country to roll out a biometric Digital ID needed in order to buy food, eat and survive. This Digital ID is the same one that controls banks which we are being told is needed in order to roll out the central bank digital currencies. As the Financial Times has reported on 5^th May:

“What CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currency, which is electronic money) research and experimentation appears to be showing is that it will be nigh on impossible to issue such currencies outside of a comprehensive national digital ID management system. Meaning: CBDCs will likely be tied to personal accounts that include personal data, credit history and other forms of relevant information.”[1]

This is the same Digital ID that the World Economic Forum has established to be at the very crux of this Fourth Industrial Revolution.

It is interesting to note that Iran is implementing this Digital ID through food rationing which is a bell-weather for how it is going to be rolled out around the rest of the world.

Reuters reported that soaring bread prices in Iran has triggered protests in which some shops were set on fire.

“The protests were triggered by a cut in government subsidies for imported wheat that caused price hikes as high as 300 percent for a variety of flour-based staples.

Iran’s official inflation rate is around 40%, and some estimate it is over 50%. Almost half Iran’s 82 million population are now below the poverty line.”[2]

And according to the The Financial Times the Iranian president Raisi:

“has announced plans to cut back bread subsidies as wheat prices soar globally and Tehran tries to steer an economy hard hit by US sanctions on oil exports. The government will offer citizens digital coupons that will allow them to access a limited amount of bread at subsidised prices, while the rest will be available at market rates. The bread scheme will come into force in about two months. The scheme will later include other goods such as chicken, cheese, and vegetable oil.”

So, the Iranians will need the Digital ID to have access to a limited amount of bread at subsidized prices while keeping on buying the rest at exorbitant market rates if one wants. But for the 50% of the population, which lives below the poverty line, this isn’t an option. Their only option is to accept the Digital Biometric ID to which all resources are being tied not just to bread but will later include other goods.

The cut on bread subsidies is something that the Iranian government says that must be done because the government cannot keep subsidizing all the bread forever. So, it will offer these digital coupons, which is a term used to dress this up nicely, which will allow them to access a limited amount of bread at subsidized prices. What this also means is that people will be limited to a small number of bread purchases at affordable prices.

Hence food is becoming the best vector to force people to get their Digital ID and the bottom line is that people won’t be able to eat unless they have these Digital Biometric cards in a non-opt-in system. So, the Iranian government is arbitrarily imposing true cost accounting because it does not want people to eat.

---

[1] https://www.ft.com/content/88f47c48-97fe-4df3-854e-0d404a3a5f9a

[2] https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/soaring-bread-prices-spark-protests-shop-fires-iran-irna-2022-05-13/