Iran will begin distributing a new banknote featuring the atomic symbol as a method of responding to international criticism towards the country's nuclear activities, Iranian news agencies reported on Sunday.

The bill, worth 50,000 rial (approximately $5.40), will be put to public use next Monday.

The atomic symbol can be seen resting against the map of Iran on one side of the bill. The other side will feature a portrait of the leader of the 1979 revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who appears on all the country's banknotes.

A Central Bank official told an Iranian newspaper that the picture was chosen by Finance Minister Davoud Danesh-Ja'fari from nearly 60 different designs.

Iran says that it has the right to develop a peaceful uranium enrichment program to produce nuclear power.