Japan is one win away from qualifying for its sixth consecutive World Cup after grinding out a 1-1 draw away to Iraq on Tuesday.
Yuya Osako opened the scoring early for Japan, but Mahdi Kamil equalized midway through the second half as the Group B sides shared the points in the Iranian capital.
With two games left in the Asian final qualifiers, group leader Japan improved to 17 points, one point ahead of Saudi Arabia and Australia.