Tehran Number Plates Undergoing Overhaul

With demand growing in the auto market, pressure has mounted on vehicle licensing authorities to offer an increasing number of registration plates faster.

Every Iranian number plate comes with a two digit number on the right-hand side that stands for the city/area of issue.

Upon the introduction of these registration plates, 11, 22 and 33 were designated for Tehran. As citizens of Tehran bought more cars, these numbers were exhausted and soon after 44, 55, 66 were issued. These numbers have now reached their ultimate limit, that is 99, ahead of schedule.

According to TINN news agency, Tehran’s traffic police will now have to propose a solution for a new scheme that could allow it to issue new number plates in Tehran.

Some local media have been reporting that the alternative that Tehran’s Traffic Police has been investigating is to introduce a new numbering system using 10, 20, 30 and so on.

The new coding system will allow for the induction of six million more cars in Tehran and is estimated to last for another 10 years at the very least.

The authorities have estimated that there will be no need for completely restructuring the number plates for the entire country.

Cars first received the registration plates in Iran some 90 years ago. Initially, these number plates had four digits. Four years later, as the number of cars increased, the plates were upgraded with an extra digit and a Persian letter.

Later, the number plates were changed twice before they evolved into what they are at present.

Iran’s number plates conform to the longer Euro specifications, but were previously designed to match the US-style. The older system was dropped in favor of the longer plates to accommodate further car sales.

For Iranians travelling abroad, the Iranian system is not accepted because of its Persian script. However, the plates are replaced by Latin-based script by Iranian motoring authorities.