Car license plates will not be converted to Latin script

According to the Sedaye Sama News Agency, igadier General Teymour Hosseini, head of Iran’s Traffic Police (Rahvar Faraja), addressed the controversy surrounding the issue of the so-called “Latinization of vehicle license plates,” stating:

“Unfortunately, some media outlets published this news in a way that completely distorted the main message, while in reality, the subject was entirely different.”

He added: “In my earlier comments regarding the Latinization of license plates, I merely made a technical observation. I emphasized that one of the reasons for occasional errors in traffic fines is that the systems were originally designed and built to read Latin digits. Although they can also read Persian numerals, sometimes such technical differences may cause errors.”

The Traffic Police chief continued: “Another point I mentioned was that Persian digits can be easily altered — for example, the number 3 can be changed to 2, and 2 to 1 — while such tampering is not easily possible with English numbers.”

General Hosseini clarified: “My remarks were purely technical and did not reflect any plan by the police to Latinize vehicle license plates.”

He stressed: “The police have made no proposals in this regard. In general, any plan put forward by the police must follow a specific expert process — first, it must be examined in specialized commissions and committees, its strengths and weaknesses identified, and after sufficient evaluation and refinement, it would be presented to the Faraja executive board if approved.”

The Rahvar Faraja chief underlined: “The point I made about camera design and the better readability of Latin digits was merely to explain a technical matter, not an operational plan to change the language of license plates.”

Hosseini added: “This media misinterpretation led the public to believe that the police intended to implement a plan for Latinizing plates, whereas such a proposal was never raised at all.”

He concluded: “This statement was simply an expert explanation aimed at clarifying the causes of system errors, and there is no decision or plan within the police to change the structure or language of vehicle license plates.”

Source: Tasnim News Agency