German's Bundesbank has kept a multi-billion-euro deposit facility open for Iranian banks, including two that were sanctioned by the United States in October, in an effort to push back against broad U.S. financial sanctions against Iran imposed that month. In a joint letter dated October 26, diplomats from France, Germany, and the United Kingdom argued that the new sanctions could have an adverse effect on humanitarian aid to Iran by making it "prohibitively expensive" for Iranians to purchase food and medicine. At the beginning of 2020, the Bundesbank held 3.8 billion euros in deposits for five Iranian banks, including Bank Melli.