Igor Castro netted the crucial goal after 19 minutes to seal the points for the home side at the Foolad Shahr Stadium as they extended their advantage over Persepolis having played a game more than their rivals.
Third-placed Esteghlal lost ground after they went down 2-0 at Sanat Naft, goals in each half from Nabi Saki and Levon Pachajyan doing the damage.
Peykan remained bottom of the table following a 2-1 defeat at Teraktor Sazi. Mirbozorgi Amir gave the visitors a sixth-minute lead but former Bolton Wanderers and Fulham midfielder Andranik Teymourian levelled five minutes later and Ali Alizadeh netted the winner shortly afterwards.
Finally, Pejman Noori's goal 11 minutes into the second-half gave Malavan a 1-0 win over Foolad.