Iranian toman

Coins

Iranian gold coins were denominated in toman, with copper and silver coins denominated in dinar, rial or qiran. During the period of hammered coinage, gold toman coins were struck in denominations of , , 1, 2 and 10 toman, and later , 3 and 6 toman. With the introduction of milled coinage in 1878, denominations included , , 1, 2, 5, 10, and 25 toman. The last gold toman were issued in 1965, well after the toman had ceased to be an official Iranian currency.

Banknotes

In 1890, the Imperial Bank of Persia introduced notes in denominations of 1, 2, 3, 5, 10, 20, 25, 50, 100, 500 and 1000 toman. These notes were issued until 1923. In 1924, a second series was introduced, consisting of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 toman notes which were issued until the rial was introduced in 1932. The higher-denomination notes were subject to frequent counterfeiting. Currently, since the value of the toman has fallen so much the standard banknotes are 1,000; 2,000; 5,000; 10,000; 50,000; and 100,000 Rial notes.

German-issued World War I occupation notes

During World War I, a group of German and Turkish soldiers occupied a small portion of Iran until 1918. They circulated five different denominations of German Imperial Treasury notes (printed around 1905) with a red overprint in Persian that were used locally at the rate of 4 marks to 1 toman. In addition to the 12 qiran 10 shahi (5 mark) and 25 qiran (10 mark) notes pictured, the rest of the issue included: 5 tomans (on a 20 mark-note), 25 tomans (on a 100 mark-note), and 250 tomans (on a 1,000 mark-note). Wilhelm Wassmuss appears to be given credit for the occupation and issue of currency.

Status

In July 2019, the Iranian government approved a bill to change the national currency from the rial to the toman with one toman equalling Rls 10,000, a process which will reportedly cost $160 million. This proposal was approved by the Iranian parliament in May 2020. The changeover is likely to be phased over a period of up to two years.

On 5 October 2025, the Islamic Consultative Assembly voted in favor of a plan to redenominate Iran's currency. The new rial was made equal to 10,000 of the current rials and divided into 100 qirans. Both currencies would circulate in parallel for three years after the introduction of the redenominated currency.

Notes

References

Sources

References

1. Fragner, Bert. (1986). "The Cambridge History of Iran". Cambridge University Press.
2. {{cite encyclopedia. (1992)
3. "While 'Altaic' is repeated in encyclopedias and handbooks most specialists in these languages no longer believe that the three traditional supposed Altaic groups, Turkic, Mongolian and Tungusic, are related." Lyle Campbell & Mauricio J. Mixco, A Glossary of Historical Linguistics (2007, University of Utah Press), p. 7.
4. "When cognates proved not to be valid, Altaic was abandoned, and the received view now is that Turkic, Mongolian, and Tungusic are unrelated." Johanna Nichols, Linguistic Diversity in Space and Time (1992, Chicago), p. 4.
5. "Careful examination indicates that the established families, Turkic, Mongolian, and Tungusic, form a linguistic area (called Altaic) ... Sufficient criteria have not been given that would justify talking of a genetic relationship here." R. M. W. Dixon, The Rise and Fall of Languages (1997, Cambridge), p. 32.
6. "[T]his selection of features does not provide good evidence for common descent" and "we can observe convergence rather than divergence between Turkic and [[Mongolic languages]]—a pattern than is easily explainable by borrowing and diffusion rather than common descent", [[Asya Pereltsvaig]], Languages of the World, An Introduction (2012, Cambridge) has a good discussion of the Altaic hypothesis (pp. 211–216).
7. (December 2024}} (the Tuman river of today) came from the Jurchen word meaning 'ten thousand'. In Manchu, {{clarify span). ["The Silk Road And The Korean Language"](https://en.unesco.org/silkroad/sites/default/files/knowledge-bank-article/the_silk_road_and_the_korean_language.pdf}}{{self-published source).
8. Maziar Motamedi. (29 January 2019). "Can a New Currency End Tehran's Economic Woes?". ForeignPolicy.com.
9. "German Qaran and Toman". Fravahr.org.
10. (May 4, 2020). "Iran Parliament Approves Bill To Change Currency, Slash Four Zeros". en.radiofarda.com.
11. (2025-10-05). "Iran’s parliament approves plan to remove four zeros from national currency".