Mohammad Taheri scored seven goals, Masoud Daneshvar hit four and Mohammadreza Zahmatkesh and Hassan Ali Asghar also delivered hat-tricks as Iran shrugged off the absence of star player Vahid Shamsaee.

It was Ali Asghar who gave Iran a thundering start with his three goals coming in the opening four minutes. Also on target for Iran were Majid Raeisi and Tayyebi Mostafa.

Tajikistan’s goals came from Vasiev Dilshod, in the 26th minute and Fatkhulo Fatkhulloev, who scored after 33 minutes.

Iran’s next opponents are Australia, who they face on Monday. Tajikistan, meanwhile, take on Kuwait.

In the other Group A match on Sunday, Kuwait were to take on Australia.