US and Iran to play in basketball at Tokyo Olympics
Some Iranians have played basketball in the United States and there is an American on Iran's national team, despite poor relations between the two governments.
The United States and Iran will face off in basketball at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo on Wednesday.
The American and Iranian men’s national basketball teams are in the same group for the early round of the global competition, and will play one another in each team’s second Olympic match.
The United States and the Islamic Republic do not have formal relations and have historically been in conflict. Iran-backed militias in Iraq regularly attack US military positions in the country, and the US military in turn bombs them. On the other hand, the two states are currently holding indirect talks on a possible US return to the Iran nuclear agreement.
The animosity between the two states has not prevented them from competing on the court. The national men’s basketball teams also played in 2010 at an international championship.
