About the religious taxes that was received from the followers of the Imam from abroad in the form of foreign exchange, and sometimes required them to be converted into Iranian rials, the issue was either they be sold to the Central Bank of Iran at the official rate (and consequently the difference between the bank rate and the free market rate be deducted from the needy recipients) or that they be sold in the free market and the total amount be spent on assigned religious instances. It was natural that for example if one hundred dollars was to be paid to charity or as religious tax to the poor, it was necessary that the same or its actual value be paid to the poor. In any case, the Imam stated: “Ask Mr. Musawi-the then prime minister-that in case it is alright from the government point of view, then the foreign currency be sold in the free market.”
Ask the prime minister: Hujjat al-Islam Rahimiyan