The Central Bank of Iran unveiled a new 50,000-rial bank note, the equivalent of $1.19 U.S. at the current exchange rate, on March 6.

The new issue is the third iteration of the denomination. It has higher security features, and the four zeroes of the value are printed in a much lighter color than that of the numeral 5, both in Iranian characters on one side and western ones on the other.

The face of the note has the standard currency portrait of Ayatollah Rouhollah Khomeini, while Hafezieh in the city of Shiraz, the tomb of Hafez, the renowned 14th century Persian poet, is on the back. It is made of 100% cotton, and was printed by the Security Printing and Minting Organization.

Security features include microprinting, a windowed holographic security thread, a latent security thread, a see-through register, watermark, electrotype, 3D linear design, and intaglio (tactile) printing for the visually impaired.

The reason for the lighter-colored zeroes is that, in response to the rampant inflation mostly brought on by sanctions, Iran’s cabinet passed a motion in July 2019 to reduce the country’s monetary denominations tenfold. It ordered four zeros removed from the national currency, the rial, and changed the currency’s formal name to the toman. The shaded numbers allow users to identify the new bank note in terms of the old as well as the new denominations.

The 10,000- and 20,000-rial notes will also be issued in the next few months with dual denominations. All three notes will be of the same size and format.

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