Iraqi dinar banknotes

Iraqi dinar banknotes represent the official paper currency of Iraq, issued by the Central Bank of Iraq alongside earlier currency board authorities. Banknotes denominated in dinars first entered circulation on 1 April 1932 to replace the Indian rupee. Prior to the 1990 Gulf War, the country contracted the British security printing firm De La Rue to manufacture its paper issues, establishing high-quality notes that served as the primary circulating medium.

Following the outbreak of the 1990 Gulf War and the imposition of United Nations sanctions, Iraq was unable to procure paper money from De La Rue. The government subsequently produced lower-quality domestic banknotes, commonly known as Saddam dinars or Iraqi dinars, which suffered rapid devaluation from extensive printing. Meanwhile, the pre-1990 De La Rue issues—termed Swiss dinars—ceased to be legal tender under the central government but continued to circulate as a stable currency in northern Iraqi Kurdistan. After the 2003 invasion, stopgap notes were briefly produced before the Coalition Provisional Authority oversaw a full currency replacement between October 2003 and January 2004, exchanging both northern Swiss dinars and southern Saddam dinars for a single unified series.

The physical characteristics of Iraqi dinar banknotes vary considerably across eras. The pre-1990 De La Rue issues featured high-standard security printing, whereas post-1990 wartime emergency notes exhibited poorer production quality and displayed portraits of Saddam Hussein. For the unified 2003–2004 series, De La Rue again printed the banknotes using modern anti-forgery techniques. These designs adapted the older Swiss dinar printing plates to later denominations, removing Saddam Hussein's portrait and utilising distinct colour schemes to differentiate them from previous printings.

Post-1990 domestic issues feature poorer print quality and Saddam Hussein's portrait, whereas the unified 2003 De La Rue issues omit his likeness and use revised colours and anti-forgery features compared to pre-1990 notes.