The official IRNA news agency says the new 50,000 rial note -- worth more than twice the value of any other note in circulation -- will have a picture of the nuclear insignia of electrons in orbit around an atom.
The note will also bear a quotation from the Prophet Muhammad beside the atomic orbit, saying "If the science exists in this constellation, men from Persia will reach it."
Jalal Jalilian, the head of printing at Iran's Central Bank, says the new banknotes have "nothing to do with depreciation of the national currency."
The new notes are to be issued at a time when Iran is facing international pressure and sanctions over its nuclear energy program.
(AFP)
The Proliferation Threat
BENDING THE RULES. Henry Sokolski, executive director of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center, told an RFE/RL-Radio Free Asia briefing on January 9 that the West is hamstrung in dealing with Iran and North Korea because of the way it has interpreted the international nonproliferation regime to benefit friendly countries like India and Japan.
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