Tokyo: Japan and South Korea both suffered deflating defeats in Asian World Cup qualifying matches in the Persian Gulf on Friday.

Striker Vahid Hashemian struck twice to give Iran a deserved 2-1 victory over Japan in front of a raucous crowd of 100,000 in Tehran.

Saudi Arabia beat 2002 World Cup semi-finalists South Korea 2-0 in Dammam, thanks to a first-half strike from Saud Khariri and a 65th-minute penalty from Yasser Al Qahtani.

Japan and South Korea, co-hosts of the last World Cup, must recover quickly with all eight teams playing their third games in the final round of Asian 2006 qualifiers on Wednesday.

Bahrain joined Iran at the top of group B by pinching a 2-1 victory in North Korea in Friday?s early game.

Iran and Bahrain have four points from two matches and an identical goal difference following their 0-0 draw in Manama last month.

Japan, who scraped past North Korea 2-1 at home in their opening match, have three points. Bayern Munich?s Hashemian fired Iran in front after 25 minutes at Azadi Stadium with a fierce right-foot shot following a mix-up in the Japan defence. (Reuters)