The Currency Has Two Names
“Toman or Rial ? ” Get used to asking that question, because if you don’t it could end up being a costly mistake.
The currency in Iran is officially known as the Rial, and is valued at roughly 42’000 IRL to USD$1. That’s a lot of zeros, so what the locals have started doing is dropping a zero and calling the new value a Toman.
1 Toman = 10 Rial
When you hear prices quoted in Tomans you need to add a zero on the end and pay the amount in Rials. It sounds confusing, but you’ll pick it up pretty quickly.
That’s why it’s important to always ask Toman or Rial, so you don’t accidentally pay too much on an item. Most vendors quote in Tomans anyway, so chances are if the price seems too good to be true, you need to multiply it by 10.
The goverment will officially introduce Toman as a currency in the coming years, but that hasn’t come into effect yet.
