Moẓaffar od-Dīn Shah's reign produced a peculiar monetary situation: chronically empty state coffers forced him to negotiate two massive Russian loans in 1900 and 1902, the terms of which effectively handed St. Petersburg significant influence over Iranian customs revenues. Coins of this period circulated against a backdrop of near-constant fiscal crisis, with the Belgian-administered customs service being the primary mechanism through which the loans were repaid — a arrangement that inflamed the constitutional opposition and contributed directly to the Revolution of 1906, which Moẓaffar od-Dīn himself signed into law just months before his death.
Moẓaffar od-Dīn Shah's reign produced a peculiar monetary situation: chronically empty state coffers forced him to negotiate two massive Russian loans in 1900 and 1902, the terms of which effectively handed St. Petersburg significant influence over Iranian customs revenues. Coins of this period circulated against a backdrop of near-constant fiscal crisis, with the Belgian-administered customs service being the primary mechanism through which the loans were repaid — a arrangement that inflamed the constitutional opposition and contributed directly to the Revolution of 1906, which Moẓaffar od-Dīn himself signed into law just months before his death.