Iran pounced on two defensive errors in the second half to win the Asian Games title for the fourth time, beating Japan 2-1 in the final on Sunday.
Iran enjoyed the better of the first half at Asiad Stadium and took a deserved lead three minutes after the break.
Little appeared on as Mehdi Amirivabadi's cross came in from the left but substitute Takeshi Aoki and Hikaru Mita left the ball to each other and Javad Kazemeyan stepped up to fire home from the edge of the area.
Japan brought on Tatsuya Tanaka and Naohiro Ishikawa to try and grab an equalizer but Iran netted a second through Mohsen Bayatiniya in the 85th minute.
Immediately from the kickoff, Satoshi Nakayama scored his fifth of the tournament to pull one back for Japan but the Iranians held out for the victory.
Earlier, South Korea claimed the bronze medal after a 3-0 win over Thailand in the third-placed playoff.