10 Rials QRM Club

The QRM Club was a recreational facility operated for American military and civilian personnel stationed at the U.S. Strategic Air Command installation in Tehran during the Pahlavi era. Notes like this one functioned as internal scrip — redeemable only within the club and carrying no legal tender status in Iran or the United States. The practice of issuing private club scrip at U.S. overseas facilities was widespread during the Cold War, partly to keep hard currency off local markets and partly for straightforward accounting reasons.

With the 1979 revolution and the abrupt evacuation of American personnel, whatever scrip remained in circulation simply stopped being redeemable. Very little of it found its way back to the United States.