There were only few surprises in the coaching staff's decision, perhaps the biggest that one of only four central defenders is Zob Ahan's Farshid Talebi, who earned his first cap against Indonesia on Tuesday.
Javad Nekounam is missing on the list due to his one-game-suspension. The Osasuna midfielderhad collected a yellow card against Saudi Arabia, and due to the slightly illogical ruling that cards from all preivious qualification rounds are carried over, together with his caution against Kuwait back in June 2008, this means he has to pause for one match.
Gholamreza Rezaei, Hassan Ashjari and Karim Bagheri were ruled out due to injuries. Several players, among them Rahman Rezaei, Sattar Zare and Maziar Zare had earlier decided to leave the camp, officially for private reasons, but the Iranian red-top press is speculating about dissent between them and Afshin Ghotbi.
Iran will hold a training camp in China, including a friendly match against the Chinese national team on June 1, and possibly another test match against a club team.
The team will then fly to Pyongyang to take on Korea DPR on June 6.
Below comes the squad for the China trip:
Goalkeepers:
Mehdi Rahmati - Mes Kerman
Vahid Talebloo - Esteghlal Tehran
Misagh Memarzadeh - Persepolis Tehran
Rahman Ahmadi - Sepahan Esfahan
Defenders:
Jalal Hosseini - Saipa Karaj
Hadi Aghili - Sepahan Esfahan
Mohammad Nosrati - Al Nasr, UAE
Farshid Talebi - Zob Ahan Esfahan
Hossein Kaebi - Saipa Karaj
Khosro Heydari - Esteghlal Tehran
Alireza Mohammad - Persepolis Tehran
Midfielders:
Andranik Teymourian - Fulham FC, ENG
Hossein Kazemi - Esteghlal Tehran
Farzad Ashoubi - Mes Kerman
Pejman Nouri - Persepolis Tehran
Mehdi Mahdavikia - Eintracht Fankfurt, GER
Masoud Shojaei - Osasuna Pamplona, ESP
Ali Karimi - Persepolis Tehran
Mohammad Reza Khalatbari - Zob Ahan Esfahan
Ferydoon Zandi - Alki Larnaca, CYP
Iman Mobali - Al Wasl, UAE
Ehsan Hajsafi - Sepahan Esfahan
Mehrzad Madanchi - Al Nasr, UAE
Strikers:
Vahid Hashemian - Vfl Bochum, GER
Mohsen Khalili - Persepolis Tehran
Arash Borhani - Esteghlal Tehran
Javad Kazemian - Ajman, UAE