The Post article mentioned this article on the 13 payments:
http://www.nysun.com/foreign/riddle-of-13-billion-for-iran-might-be-solved-by/89692/
I thought it might be a system limitation. I know the IRS will send back big checks because the input field for the amount can hold only so many spaces. In those cases the IRS asks the taxpayer to send two checks totaling the amount due.