20 Rials Islamic Revolution

The 1980 date places this coin squarely in the first full year of production under the new Islamic Republic, established after the February 1979 revolution that deposed Mohammad Reza Shah. The transitional coinage of this period presented the new government with an immediate practical problem: the old Pahlavi-era dies depicted the Shah and imperial symbols that were now politically untenable, yet the mint infrastructure required rapid retooling to supply a functioning economy already under severe strain from capital flight and the impending war with Iraq.

Iraq's invasion came in September 1980, just as this issue was entering circulation.