Iran travelled to the World Cup with the country involved in a armed and political conflict with tournament co-hosts United States.
While the Iranian team tried to ignore the outside noise and focus on football, Tehran negotiated with Washington on terms to end the war that began earlier this year and also involved Israel.
Despite their best efforts, however, the national team couldn't avoid dealing with the consequences of the political issues off the pitch.
And after a turbulent group stage, Iran's participation came to an end in an dramatic way.
Iran the losers as Austria and Algeria celebrate
The game between Austria and Algeria completed the group stage on Saturday.
The two nations would advance with a point and that was the final result: a wild 3-3 draw which saw both Algeria and Austria scoring in stoppage-time.
Riyad Mahrez thought he grabbed a winner for Algeria in the third minute of stoppage time. But Sasa Kalajdzic came on as a substitute and needed just one minute to net the dramatic equalizer for Austria.
Iran would have advanced as one of the eight best third-place teams had Austria or Algeria won. But Kalajdzic's goal meant trouble for Iran as they were eliminated in heartbreaking fashion.
Algeria finished third in Group J and ranked sixth among the third-placed teams, pushing Iran out of the top eight.
Iran collected three points from three draws and almost clinched a victory against Egypt in their final group match on Friday - a win that would have changed their fate in the tournament.
Shoja Khalilzadeh thought he had scored maybe the most important goal in Iranian football history in the third minute of stoppage time, only for the effort to be ruled out for a an offside owing to the fact the front half of his foot was just beyond the line of the last defender.
The decision to nullify the goal was made after video review.
"There are rules and it's all based on technology, I accept that," Iran coach Amir Ghalenoei said after the game.
"But I am really upset because of the bad luck we had. Because of millimetres, our goal was ruled out. That's justice. But I'm upset by the bad luck."
"I used to think we were an oppressed team. But I note that we are also an unlucky team," he added.
'It's a disaster World Cup'
By calling his team "oppressed," Ghalenoei was referring to the travel restrictions and other issues the nation faced off the pitch.
Iran's participation in the World Cup was overshadowed by political issues due to the conflict with co-hosts United States and Israel.
The Iranian team had to move their training camp from Arizona to Mexico a few days before the tournament and was subject to strict restrictions when entering and leaving the US for their three group stage matches.
They also had to leave the US immediately after their matches, while some members of the Iranian staff weren't granted US visas at all.
"We don't have our logistics people here, they don't have a visa. We don't have recovery or logistic people to help us. We always complain about these things but no one helps, no one," Iran captain Mehdi Taremi said after the draw with Egypt.
"We always complain about these things since the beginning. It's a disaster World Cup. Disaster," he said.
