What made Iran even more exciting to watch was the return of Behnam Yakhchali. They kept basically (most of) the team that won bronze in the 2025 Asia Cup - led by Arsalan Kazemi and Sina Vahedi - and then brought in the star guard for Window 1. The result? A sweep of Iraq, and a share of the Group C lead with the Jordanians.

What makes Iran even more terrifying is that they did this without Mohammad Amini - who was announced injured before the window. Once they bring him back into the mix, they will surely be better, fiba.basketball wrote.

They're sliding down here not because of how they played, but more relative to how the other rising teams performed against tougher opponents.