Tensions between the United States and Iran seem to get more strained every day, which makes things tough for Americans who live and work there.

	Garth Joseph in his apartment in Iran

But one American basketball player finds ways to ease the tension by bringing tastes of home to the Middle East. Garth Joseph plays for a team called Saba Battery (owned by Saba Battery Company) in Iran’s Premier Football League (IPL.) At seven feet two inches, it’s hard for him not to stand out, particularly, as an American basketball player in Iran.

“I was skeptical of coming here just like anyone in America. My wife is very concerned, she went to the Internet to find an embassy and when she found we had no embassy she was really mad,” he said.

Last October, Joseph came anyway, leaving behind life in New York and becoming one of 20 foreign basketball players in Iran. He said his family finds the situation more and more troubling because Iran is a country very much at odds with his own.

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	For the love of the game Garth Joseph keeps himself happy in Iran by sneaking in bacon and knowing he’s supporting his family.

“They’re always calling me asking me about something like this nuclear struggle, I say ‘I don't hear that, I don't see that,’ ‘Well, do they cuss at Americans at the game?’ ‘I say no, we don't see those things at all,’” he said.

What he does see are restrictions everywhere, and a lifestyle that might seem boring to an American. Joseph said there are no bars or clubs, and even the elevators aren’t built for men who are seven feet tall. His apartment is filled with “contraband.” He keeps bottles of liquor under the sink even though alcohol is forbidden in Iran. And so is bacon. Joseph said that costs him $11.

But he said it's the Iranian players and people here that keep him sane.

“These are the best people I've seen, especially my teammates. I've never been on a team where I love everybody and everybody is so great,” he said.

A native of Dominica, Joseph has traveled the world, from Cuba to Iran, putting aside his NBA dreams for economic realities. In Iran he gets a paycheck and every night he calls home, speaks to his four kids, their pictures always close by. They are, he said, the reason he came to the Middle East.

“I think this place is great but if I didn't have family I would never have come,” he said.

That’s the ironic twist - an American coming to Iran to make a living amid a brewing international conflict. But Joseph stays away from politics and sticks to what he does best – basketball – which is an American sport.