French forward Arthur Kevin Yamga scored the winner in Tehran’s Azadi Stadium nine minutes into the second half.
Esteghlal leads the IPL table with 41 points.
Persepolis also defeated Nassaji 3-1 to stay in the title race.
Kamal Kamyabinia, Vahid Amiri and Hamed Pakdel were on target for the Reds and Karim Eslami scored for Nassaji.
Nassaji midfielder Ayyub Kalantari was shown his second yellow card in the 78th minute.
In Ahvaz, Foolad edged past Aluminum 1-0, Havadar defeated Paykan 2-1 in Tehran and Gol Gohar earned a 2-0 win over Fajr Sepasi in Sirjan.