The Iraqi dinar or Iraq dinar was introduced by the Coalition Provisional Authority or CPA from October 15, 2003 to January 15, 2004. The CPA was an interim government or acting government set up by the United States and selected Iraqi persons. The dinar replaced the old Saddam notes (that bared his face) to give the Iraqi people and their country hope in the future of their new Iraq. This created a single unified currency that is used throughout all of Iraq and will also make money more convenient to use in people’s everyday lives." Old banknotes were exchanged for new at a one-to-one rate, except for the Swiss dinars, which were exchanged at a rate of 150 new dinars for one Swiss dinar.

The Iraqi dinar comes in denominations of 50, 250, 500, 1000, 5000,10000 and 25000.

The dinar was printed by De La Rue an English company which is the world leader in anti-forgery techniques. De La Rue is the largest printer of currency in the world and trades publicly on the London Stock Exchange.

After the Gulf War in 1991, and due to the economic blockade, the previously used Swiss printing technology was no longer available. A new, inferior quality notes issue was produced. The previous issue became known as the Swiss dinar and continued to circulate in the Kurdish region of Iraq. Due to excessive government printing of the new notes issue, the dinar devalued quickly, and in late 1995, US$1 was valued at 3,000 dinars.

Following the deposition of Saddam Hussein in the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the Iraqi Governing Council and the Office for Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance began printing more Saddam dinar notes as a stopgap measure to maintain the money supply until new currency could be introduced.

Between October 15, 2003 and January 15, 2004, the Coalition Provisional Authority issued the Iraqi dinar coins and notes, with the notes printed by De La Rue using modern anti-forgery techniques, to "create a single unified currency that is used throughout all of Iraq and will also make money more convenient to use in people’s everyday lives."[3] Old banknotes were exchanged for new at a one-to-one rate, except for the Swiss dinars, which were exchanged at a rate of 150 new dinars for one Swiss dinar. These new banknotes led to a new industry of selling the new Iraqi dinar to oversea investors who hoped to profit from Iraq's new currency when the economy improved. The provisional government of Iraq has made this legal, but the banknotes are exchanged at different rates by companies wanting to make profit.

Although the value of the dinar appreciated following the introduction of the new banknotes from 4,000 dinars per U.S. dollar, at the time of their introduction, to a high of 980 dinars per dollar, it is now held at a "program" exchange rate, as specified by the International Monetary Fund,[citation needed] of 1170 dinars per US dollar at the Central Bank of Iraq. However, there is not yet a set international exchange rate and so international banks do not yet exchange Iraqi dinar. The exchange rate available on the streets of Iraq was around 1500 dinar per US dollar in April 2006.