Pots determined after FIFA's world list

After today's FIFA world rankings list from April the pots are finally known for the third 2018 World Cup qualifying round from the Asian region. IR Iran remained the best team in Asia while Australia are the biggest climbers of 17 places to reach fiftieth position.
Twelve teams will be splitted into two groups with six teams each. Round three will commence from August 2016 and will last until September 2017. The groups will be known on Tuesday, 12 April when the draw will be made in the Asian headquarters in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia:

Pot 1: IR Iran and Australia.

Pot 2: South Korea and Japan.

Pot 3: Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan.

Pot 4: United Arab Emirates and PR China.

Pot 5: Qatar and Iraq.

Pot 6: Syria and Thailand.

The first two teams from both groups will directly qualify for the World Cup in Russia while third placed teams will face each other in the next - fourth round.