10 Rials USASTRATCOM Open Mess

The U.S. Army Strategic Communications Command maintained a substantial signals and communications presence in Iran under the Pahlavi government, and like many American military installations abroad, the unit ran its own mess facilities using scrip rather than dollars or local currency. These internal tokens — printed on colored paper to prevent counterfeiting across denominations — kept dollar cash off the floor and simplified accounting under SOFA arrangements.

The Tehran facility closed abruptly with the 1979 revolution. Most scrip was either destroyed during withdrawal or abandoned, which accounts for the relative scarcity of intact examples today.