TEHRAN – For Iran national basketball team wining a bronze medal was 'greater than gold' in the FIBA Asia Cup 2025.

Iran and New Zealand pulled off comebacks of epic proportions on their way to completing half of the Semi-Finals picture.

Team Melli did it first, rallying from 21 down to upend Chinese Taipei, 78-75, which Sina Vahedi helped make possible even after he got called for three personal fouls merely seven minutes into the match.

"I was patient on the bench, thinking about defense, offense, everything. And in the second half, we won the game. I'm so happy about that," expressed the eventual All-Star Five member, who finished with 21 points.

The Tall Blacks would author their own story the next night, fighting back from a deficit as big as 22 points to eliminate Lebanon by way of an 80-76 decision thanks to the efforts of Mojave King and Carlin Davison.

That victory over Chinese Taipei would actually serve as a prelude to bigger things for Iran. After waiting for nearly a decade, they finally took home a medal by beating New Zealand, 78-73, in the Third-Place Game, fiba.basketball reported.

The Iranians snared bronze but Arsalan Kazemi and his brothers felt like they struck gold, as it proved to be a statement to all those - including their very own people, yes - who didn't believe they could succeed.

"Nobody was expecting us to accomplish anything, especially in Iran. We have a whole controversy around our basketball team, around this young group of guys, that they're not ready yet," said the 35-year-old forward.

Kazemi himself was instrumental in the win, finishing with 16 points and 16 rebounds to earn himself his second Asia Cup medal after copping silver in 2017 - also the last time that the Iranians stood at the podium.