New Iran banknote shows nuke symbol

Tehran: Iran yesterday issued a banknote with a nuclear symbol in a move seen as an assertion of the national will in the face of international sanctions over its insistence on enriching uranium.

The new note for 50,000 rials (about $5.40) also reflected rising inflation, a fact that has brought criticism of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's policies. It is worth more than twice the previously highest denomination note.

The note is printed in orange, green and blue and shows a nuclear symbol - electrons flying around a nucleus - on a map of Iran. A brief text next to the symbol quotes the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH): "If the faith was at the Pleiades, even then a person from Persia would have taken hold of it, or one of Persian descent would surely have found it."

The Pleiades is a well-known star cluster.

In conformity with the law, the note also bears a portrait of the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the father of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

State television said the Central Bank had issued six million of the notes, and will introduce another six million in the next two weeks. The nuclear programme is a source of national pride in Iran.

Even government opponents support the programme. However in recent months, reformists and conservatives have criticised President Ahmadinejad's harsh rhetoric, saying it has brought more harm than good. The United States and some of its European allies have accused Iran of seeking uranium enrichment as a part of a programme to build nuclear weapons.

Sanctions

Enriched uranium is used as fuel in nuclear reactors but, enriched to a higher level, it is used in atomic bombs.

Iran denies that it trying to build bombs, saying its programme is limited to generating electricity.

The UN Security Council imposed sanctions on Iran in December after it ignored a resolution demanding that it halt enrichment. The five permanent members of the Security Council plus Germany are considering new sanctions against Iran.

Bold move by Iran, but it's probably just some more nonsense. As the Iranian preseident tries to take on the world, the Iranian people might stand to lose a great deal.
J.D. King
Toronto,Canada

Nuclear right is the right of each and every nation in this world. The only nation which used the atom bomb is trying to block others from using a peaceful source of energy. Do you think it is fair that only European and American countries can use nuclear energy and not others. The whole world should shift from fossil fuels to nuclear energy as it will help in reducing the global worming whose effects are even worse than nuclear bomb.
Salam
Delhi,India