Despite landing a group not many will envy leaving their chances of qualification bleak, confidence will be brewing through the camp of the Melli's as they come face-to-face with Wales in their second Group B fixture at the Ahmad bin Ali Stadium today (Friday).
After coming from behind to grab a dramatic 1-1 stalemate against USA on Monday, Iran had earlier on that day succumbed to a 6-2 defeat to England.
Iran who are appearing at their third consecutive World Cup for the first time in their history, they have an esteemed gaffer in the person of Carlos Queiroz, who previously took South Africa and Portugal to the World Cup - as well as leading Iran to the 2014 mundial - and finished their qualification campaign undefeated as they cruised to Russia.
However, neither side specifically showed great footballing prowess in a tone where they were resolving for a point, and Wales were lucky to still be in the game after recess.
It was a melee of supremacy in the second half, as the Dragons wasted slabs of chances before Gareth Bale scored his first-ever World Cup goal from the spot kick.
Although Wales' combatant was not at his personal best - his optimism has wheeled the Dragons to a position where their destiny lies in their own hands if they can rout Iran.
However, Carlos Queiroz's men were extremely dominated by England, even though they had previously snatched a win and a draw from Uruguay and Senegal in September.
FC Porto's Mehdi Taremi will be out to showcase his wizardry attacking dexterity, and a second-half outing from Bayer Leverkusen's Sardar Azmoun will be greatly put to bare as he starts from the bench to kindle some fire in the Melli's attack and reduce their negative difference, comparing to their opponents.
TEAM NEWS
Ethan Ampadu's ankle knock will be monitored, with Joe Morrell on standby to deputise, while Joe Allen is back in contention for a spot after not featuring since September due to injury.
Iran's Hossein Hosseini is in line to start and take his place, and Queiroz has to make a quick decision whether to start Azmoun in the first half.
Although the Melli's will be forced into a change after Alireza Beiranvand's head injury against England, with three changes being at half-time on Monday, Queiroz may put familiarity in full force, with Ali Gholizadeh hoping for a start after supplying the assist for Taremi's first goal.
PROBABLE XI
Wales: Hennessey; Mepham, Rodon, Davies; Roberts, Ramsey, Ampadu, Williams; James, Bale; Moore
Iran: H. Hosseini; Moharrami, Pouraliganji, Cheshmi, M. Hosseini, Mohammadi; Jahanbakhsh, Noorollahi, Karimi, Gholizadeh; Taremi
MATCH OFFICIALS
Center Referee: Mario Escobar (Guatemala)
Assistant 1: Caleb Wales (Trinidad and Tobago)
Assistant 2: Juan Carlos Mora Araya (Costa Rica)
Fourth Official: Maguette N'Diaye (Senegal)
VAR Officials: Drew Fischer (Canada)
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Fernando Guerrero (Mexico)
Offside Video Assistant Referee: Nicolas Taran (Uruguay)
Support Video Assistant Referee: Adil Zourak (Morocco)
Standby Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Bruno Pires (Brazil)
CHANNEL: SuperSport, Fox Sports
KICKOFF: 10:00GMT (10am)
By: Pascal Nii Gogo Amoah
