Asia’s number one, Iran, was on top for much of the first period, and a rebound from a corner fell to Ehsan Hajsafi who crashed a right-foot shot into the top corner for the opening goal. Bahrain Goalkeeper will have to take some blame for this goal.
Masoud Shojaei made amends in the 71st minute when he scored from a cross from Andranik Teymourian to seal the game for his side.
Persian Leopards missed several chances for netting the ball, and the goals from Hajsafi and Shojae sealed a victory for Carlos Queiroz's men.
On the same day the UAE defeated Qatar in the first match of this group. Khalfan Ibrahim gave Qatar a surprise 22nd-minute lead in Canberra, but doubles from Ahmed Khalil and Ali Ahmed Mabkhout saw the UAE to a 4-1 win over Qatar in the Asian Cup.
After today's matches, the UAE stood atop Pool C with 3 points followed by Iran (3 points), Bahrain (0) and Qatar (0).
Iran has been drawn in Group C along with Bahrain, the UAE and Qatar. Queiroz men will play with Qatar in their next match on Thursday, while Bahrain are due to stand against the UAE.
Iran and Bahrain have played each other 16 times, with Iran winning 8 matches, Bahrain taking 4 victories and 4 others ending in a draw.
Iran has endured a mixed history against Bahrain in recent years. They suffered a 3-1 defeat in a 2002 FIFA World Cup qualifier before winning 6-0 in the third round qualifiers ahead of the 2014 tournament.
Asia's highest-ranked side had played just twice since bowing out in the group stages of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, beating South Korea 1-0 last November before edging out Iraq by the same scoreline in January.
Iran's preparations took a hit last week when Hashem Beikzadeh broke his hand in training, compounded by the fact fellow defender Pejman Montazeri is out of the tournament due to a calf injury. Beikzadah also had missed the 2014 World Cup with a muscle complaint.
This is Iran’s 13th AFC Asian Cup finals appearance. Iranians have won the AFC Asian Cup title in 1968, 1972 and 1976, and scored 112 goals in the AFC Asian Cup. Team Melli has not progressed past the Asian Cup quarterfinals since 1996, falling well short of its most successful era, when it won three successive tournaments from 1968 to 1976.
The Islamic Republic of Iran climbed five positions in the new edition of the FIFA rankings to land in the 51th spot in the world, and stood at the first spot among Asian teams.
Iran is followed by Japan (54th), Korea Republic (69th) and Uzbekistan (74th) as the second, third and fourth teams of Asia.
