1.000.000 Rials

Iran's million-rial note arrived at a moment when the denomination said everything about the state of the currency. Decades of sanctions-driven inflation had so eroded purchasing power that by 2020 a million rials was worth roughly twenty-five US dollars — a mundane sum requiring the highest-denomination note in the country's history. The government had already legislated a redenomination, renaming the unit the "toman" at a ratio of 10,000 rials to one, but implementation lagged well behind the physical currency being printed.

The relatively sparse security suite — color-shifting ink and a serial number — reflects the practical ceiling on what Iranian printers could source under import restrictions.