Catalog
500 000 Rials
| Issuer | Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran |
|---|---|
| Year | 2014-2015 |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Reference(s) | P#154 |
| Obverse description | The obverse is dominated by a fine intaglio vignette of the dome and minaret of the Imam Reza Shrine in Mashhad, rendered in dark grey-blue tones against a guilloche underprint of pale blue and green concentric patterns. The bank title in Persian script (بانک مرکزی جمهوری اسلامی ایران) runs along the upper register, flanked by an ornate dark green circular emblem at the upper left and the denomination numeral ۵۰۰٬۰۰۰ at the upper right. The lower left carries the denomination text پانصد هزار ریال alongside a stylised Persian numeral vignette, with two serial numbers printed in red and black Farsi numerals, and a signature block with the title رئیس کل at the lower right. |
|---|---|
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| Protection type | Watermark, Security thread |
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| Comments |
Iran's shift to issuing 500,000-rial notes reflects the cumulative damage of decades of inflation driven by international sanctions, oil revenue volatility, and domestic monetary expansion — by the time this denomination appeared, the 500,000 rial was worth roughly $15 USD at open-market rates, not an extravagant sum. The denomination gap it filled had been a practical problem for daily transactions for years.
The Central Bank had been under sustained pressure during this period due to the 2012 sanctions escalation, which severely restricted Iran's access to international banking and printing supply chains. Security feature procurement for new issues became notably more constrained from that point forward.