Why can you sanitize paper money notes with a Clothes Iron?
In short: This is possible because «paper money» actually is not referring to the paper like paper from the office supply for (your) desktop printer or xerox, but to cotton paper.
Because of the cotton, if folded and forgotten in a pocket of your jeans close to $\pu{40 ^\circ{}C}$, they may physically survive a pass in the washing machine with a mild non-bleaching detergent (including the spinning).  They obviously suffer from the dye if e.g., the jeans blead, or mechanically if you try to unfold them after if passing a dryer.  Of course different to the ones made of polymers as (but not limited to) in Australia.