Basketball players feel chill in 'cold war' with Iran

The United States' increasingly tough stance on Iran has produced an unlikely casualty, the small but steady stream of homegrown basketball players who have found homes playing for teams in the Islamic republic.

As many as 20 US players were in Iran last year in a rare instance of cultural exchange between the countries, but now the number is down to two. And the US Treasury is said to be investigating players for possible sanctions violations which, if substantiated, could result in a $50,000 fine.

A Treasury spokeswoman would neither confirm nor deny the investigation, although she said it was standard procedure to follow up on any allegation of sanctions-busting with a full inquiry. The BBC reported the story from Tehran, based on conversations with diplomats and an Iranian adviser to the country's basketball teams.

Basketball is a shared passion of the two geopolitical adversaries - a little like the baseball mania that bonds the US and Cuba - and it led to a steady influx of US players to Iran over the past three to four years.

A BBC documentary last year chronicled the cultural differences - the Iranians greet each other by kissing on both cheeks, and Americans do a high five - and also the similarities in the approach to playing a game.

"Basketball is universal, so there's no colour, no race; we just bond," Andre Pitts, a US player signed by the Tehran team Saba Battery - told the BBC at the time. "From day one when I came here, the team just took me in and we just took off."

The Iranian media was delighted to have some flesh-and-blood Americans to say positive things about a country that President George Bush has branded part of the "axis of evil".

Calvin Warner, from Florida, a member of Isfahan's Zob Ahan team, told an Iranian radio station that he was pleased with the welcome he had.

"Everybody is nice," he said. "Everybody wants you to be here. Everybody wants you to enjoy the good things about their country, and they want you to realise that it's not as bad as it seems on TV. Sometimes you hear bad things about Iran. But unless you come here, you don't know it, until you experience it for yourself."

Technically, any US citizen wanting to sell or provide a service to Iran needs a special licence from the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control. BBC sources in Tehran say the understanding was that this need not apply to sports players or individual service-providers such as English-language teachers.

The Treasury spokes-woman, Molly Millerwise, would not comment on categories of workers. She said only that her department regularly investigates and imposes civil penalties on both individuals and companies for sanctions violations around the world.