Mirror - The St Pauli striker headed into his own net to hand the Asian side a shock win in St Petersburg.
The Iranian Messi had his blushes here by a Morocco nightmare as substitute Ariz Bouhaddouz headed a stoppage time own goal.
Sardar Azmoun, 23, had gone into the tournament with a huge reputation as the star man in Carlos Queiroz’s team.
After missing the cut for the last World cup, the Rubin Kazan striker had netted 23 times in 32 games over the subsequent four years for his country, making him Iran's all time fifth highest goalscorer.
Faced with the chance to give his side a crucial start to their Group B campaign, however, he fluffed his lines.
A superbly-worked move sent him clear of the Morocco defence, three minutes before the break. Azmoun looked certain to score.
Yet instead of finding the net he allowed keeper Monir El Kajoui to keep his effort out with his outstretched leg. The rebound was sent over the bar.
Iran had arrived in Russia as the first Asian team to qualify for the World Cup. They boasted a front line of freescoring talents with Azmoun supplemented by Alkmaar’s Alireza Jahanbaksh, who netted 21 times last season.
Olympiakos striker Karim Ansarifard had scored 17 times over the past campaign. But all three were unable to find a way through a Morocco side that had conceded just once in their past eight qualifiers.
Stylish Ajax midfielder Hakim Ziyech was another to be frustrated, seeing his 79th-minute volley saved by El Kajoui.
Herve Renard’s team, the Lions of the Atlas, had impressed with their attractive, enterprising start to the contest. They’d started their World Cup undefeated in their previous 18 games, winning 14 of them.
Yet for all their build-up they too could not make the breakthrough, with Iran keeper Ali Beiranvand in fine form.
In the 19th minute the Persepolis stopper did well to save a deflected effort from Juventus defender Mehdi Benatia from a corner.
In the 26th minute the Iran players threw their bodies in the way of two Morocco strikes, the second a fierce effort from Galatasaray midfielder Younes Belhanda. The strike hit Rouzbeh Chesmi before rebounding to safety.
Queiroz, the former Real Madrid boss and Manchester United assistant manager, was rocked in the dying minutes by the loss of Jahanbaksh through injury.
But just minutes later he was left delighted as defender Ehsan Haji Safi swung a free-kick into the box and Bouhaddouz sent a diving header into his own net.
The Iranians celebrated as though they’d won the tournament. Morocco must now try to find a way to recover.
Morocco: El Kajoui; Hakimi, Benatia, Saiss, Amrabat; Belhanda, Boussoufa, El-Ahmadi; Harit, Ziyech; El Kaabi
Iran: Beiranvand; Hajisafi, Cheshmi, Pouraliganji, Rezaeian; Shojaei, Ebrahimi; Amiri, Ansarifard, Jahanbaksh; Azmoun