Carlos Queiroz's men sit second in Group B with three points on the board and a draw in their final group outing could get the job done depending on the result between England and Wales in the other Group B encounter.
On the other hand, Gregg Berhalter's men must come away with a victory in this one if they are to avoid an early exit from this year's edition of football's biggest tournament.
Here, Sports Mole looks at how the squads of Iran and USA weigh up against each other ahead of Tuesday's contest.
IRAN
Most valuable player:
Mehdi Taremi (£17.1m)
Overall squad value:
£51.8m
Most capped player:
Ehsan Hajsafi (123)
Leading goalscorer:
Sardar Azmoun (41)
Total caps:
1012
Total goals:
153
Oldest player:
Vahid Amiri (34)
Youngest player:
Abolfazl Jalali (24)
Average age:
28.9
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Goalkeepers: Alireza Beiranvand (Persepolis), Amir Abedzadeh (Ponferradina), Hossein Hosseini (Esteghlal), Payam Niazmand (Sepahan)
Defenders: Ehsan Hajsafi (AEK Athens), Morteza Pouraliganji (Persepolis), Ramin Rezaeian (Sepahan), Milad Mohammadi (AEK Athens), Hossein Kanaanizadegan (Al-Ahli), Shojae Khalilzadeh (Al-Ahli), Sadegh Moharrami (Dinamo Zagreb), Rouzbeh Cheshmi (Esteghlal), Majid Hosseini (Kayserispor), Abolfazl Jalali (Esteghlal)
Midfielders: Vahid Amiri (Persepolis), Alireza Jahanbakhsh (Feyenoord), Saeid Ezatolahi (Vejle), Mehdi Torabi (Persepolis), Saman Ghoddos (Brentford), Ali Gholizadeh (Charleroi), Ahmad Nourollahi (Shabab Al-Ahli), Ali Karimi (Kayserispor)
Forwards: Karim Ansarifard (Omonia), Sardar Azmoun (Bayer Leverkusen), Mehdi Taremi (Porto)
USA
Most valuable player:
Christian Pulisic (£32.6m)
Overall squad value:
£238.2m
Most capped player:
DeAndre Yedlin (76)
Leading goalscorer:
Christian Pulisic (21)
Total caps:
716
Total goals:
83
Oldest player:
Tim Ream (35)
Youngest player:
Yunus Musah (19)
Average age:
25.2
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Goalkeepers: Matt Turner (Arsenal), Sean Johnson (New York City FC), Ethan Horvath (Luton Town)
Defenders: DeAndre Yedlin (Inter Miami), Tim Ream (Fulham), Walker Zimmerman (Nashville SC), Aaron Long (New York Red Bulls), Antonee Robinson (Fulham), Sergino Dest (AC Milan), Shaq Moore (Nashville SC), Cameron Carter-Vickers (Celtic), Joe Scally (Borussia Monchengladbach)
Midfielders: Kellyn Acosta (Los Angeles FC), Weston McKennie (Juventus), Tyler Adams (Leeds United), Cristian Roldan (Seattle Sounders), Brenden Aaronson (Leeds United), Yunus Musah (Valencia), Luca de la Torre (Celta Vigo)
Forwards: Christian Pulisic (Chelsea), Jordan Morris (Seattle Sounders), Tim Weah (Lille), Josh Sargent (Norwich City), Jesus Ferreira (Dallas), Giovanni Reyna (Borussia Dortmund), Haji Wright (Antalyaspor)
Read more on Iran vs USA
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