Iranian police fired teargas and arrested dozens of football fans during clashes in Tehran following the national team's World Cup qualifying victory over Iraq yesterday.
Police moved in after supporters attacked a bank and cars in the city's eastern Narmak area.
Riot police had earlier clubbed dozens of soccer supporters of all ages and made a number of other arrests after more than 20,000 people gathered in one of Tehran's main squares - Nur Square - to celebrate the 2-1 victory.
While the police appeared to catch some troublemakers, children and elderly people were also forcibly rounded up apparently without reason.
The crowd, made up mainly of families had been singing and shouting, while others threw firecrackers, to celebrate the victory which takes Iran a huge step towards qualifying for next summer's World Cup finals.
It took Iran 27 minutes to take the lead when Mehdi Mahdavikia, who plays for Bundesliga side SV Hamburg, scored after some good build up by Karim Bagheri and Ali Karimi.
As the 100,000 crowd inside the Azadi Stadium looked for more goals, Iraq, playing in the Iranian capital for the first time in 25 years, refused to buckle under the pressure and early in the second half they equalised.
Qahtan Drain was on hand to score after the home side failed to clear and briefly the visitors dreamed of improving on their miserable record of only having won three of 14 meetings with their neighbours.
But Iran, bidding to reach the finals for the third time, poured forward looking for the vital strike. It came 19 minutes from the end when Mahdavikia broke down the right. He cut inside and as Iraq keeper Saeed Jameel tried to close him down, Mahdavikia slotted the ball to Karimi who scored from close range.
Iranian player Hamed Kavianpour said on television: "This victory is doubly sweet for us because it is against a country with which we have had many problems and still do."
Iran's victory puts it back on top of Asian Group A with 15 points, one point ahead of second placed Saudi Arabia.
Both teams have played seven games.
ASIAN WORLD CUP QUALIFYING
Winners of A and B qualify for the World Cup finals in South Korea and Japan. Runners-up in Group A and Group B play-off on a home-and-away basis with the winner qualifying to play Ireland.
Group A
P W D L F A P
Iran 7 4 3 0 9 4 15
Saudi Arabia 7 4 2 1 13 7 14
Iraq 8 2 1 5 9 10 7
Bahrain 6 1 3 2 4 7 6
Thailand 6 0 3 3 3 10 3
Played yesterday: Iran 2 Iraq 1.
To play: Today: Thailand v Bahrain. Oct 19th: Bahrain v Iran; Saudi Arabia v Thailand.
Group B
P W D L F A P
China 6 5 1 0 10 1 16
UAE 7 3 1 3 8 9 10
Qatar 7 2 3 2 10 7 9
Uzbekistan 6 2 1 3 10 10 7
Oman 6 0 2 4 1 12 2
China win group and qualify for World Cup finals.
To play: Today: Oman v Uzbekistan; China v Qatar. Oct 19th: UAE v Oman, Uzbekistan v China.
