Iran's basketball team will play against the United States in its fourth Group B match on Wednesday at the preliminary round of the 2010 FIBA world championship in Istanbul, Turkey, Press TV reported.
Iran's basketball coach Veslin Matic said on Tuesday that "Iran has participated in the FIBA World Championship to make its dreams come true," adding, "The match between Iran and the US is not a political game."
"Everybody is talking about the Iran-US match. In my opinion, this match is like other matches. Basketball is just a game and it is not political at all," he added.
Iran earned its first victory in the tournament against Tunisia 71-58 on Monday.
In the match against Tunisia, Iran headed for an easy victory after Hamed Haddadi scored the first five points of the second half, and the lead grew to 24 later in the period, before Tunisia's rally fell short. Haddadi, the Memphis Grizzlies center, had 23 points and 13 rebounds in the match.
The US has not won the world championship since 1994. No players from the 2008 Olympics gold medal-winning team are on the squad in Turkey.
While remaining undefeated, the US team suffered a big scare on Monday against Brazil. They took the US down to the wire and lost by a mere two points.
Standing 7.2 with a massive frame, Haddadi will probably be very problematic for US on the interior, since the only American 7 footer is Tyson Chandler and they have been starting Lamar Odom at center.
Iran lost its first two matches against Brazil 81-65 and Croatia 75-54.
Iran is without its top players in the tourney and is experiencing its debut performance in the world championship.
Samad Nikkhah Bahrami and Hamed Afaq missed the prestigious tournament due to foot injury.
Iran played in the 2008 Olympic for the first time in more than 60 years after winning the Asian championship the year before. The Iranians defended the Asian title last year to earn their spot in the world competitions.
The Asian champions will meet Slovenia on Thursday in their last match at the preliminary round of the event.