Iran–United States relations during the first Trump administration

Iran–United States relations

Iran	United States
Diplomatic mission
Interests Section in the Pakistani Embassy, Washington, D.C.	Interests Section in the Swiss Embassy, Tehran
Envoy
Director of the Interest Section Mehdi Atefat	United States Special Representative for Iran Abram Paley

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Iran–United States relations during the first Trump administration (2017–2021) were marked by a sharp shift in policy, in contrast to Obama’s engagement-oriented approach, beginning with a travel ban affecting Iranian citizens.^[1] This was followed by the U.S. withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) which led to the reimposition of economic sanctions. Trump launched a maximum pressure campaign against Iran, which included designating the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization^[2] and seeking to isolate Iran regionally through closer alignment with countries such as Saudi Arabia and Israel.^[3]

In response, Iran threatened to resume unrestricted uranium enrichment;^[4] they publicly ruled out negotiations with the Trump administration^[5] and heightened rhetorical and legal opposition to U.S. actions. Additional incidents—including cyberattacks, retaliatory strikes, the downing of a Ukrainian passenger plane by Iranian forces, and public threats exchanged between leaders—sustained high tensions through early 2020.

Tensions between the United States and Iran escalated sharply in 2019 following the U.S. intelligence assessments of Iranian threats in the Persian Gulf, prompting deployments of military assets and increased rhetoric on both sides.^[6][7] After a series of maritime incidents, including attacks on oil tankers and thedowning of a U.S. drone by Iran in June,^[8] President Trump authorized but then called off retaliatory strikes,^[9] instead opting for cyberattacks and additional sanctions targeting Iran’s leadership.^[10] Despite moments of restraint, incidents such as disputed drone encounters, suspected Iranian involvement in attacks on Saudi oil facilities,^[11] and protests inside Iran over fuel prices^[12] kept relations in a state of persistent hostility through the end of 2019.

Tensions escalated dramatically in late 2019 after a rocket attack on the K-1 Air Base in Iraq killed a U.S. contractor,^[13] prompting American airstrikes on Iranian-backed militias^[14] and an attack on the U.S. embassy in Baghdad.^[15] On 3 January 2020, the U.S. assassinated Iranian General Qasem Soleimani in a drone strike ordered by President Trump,^[16] leading to Iranian missile attacks on U.S. bases in Iraq and heightened fears of direct conflict. Additional incidents—including cyberattacks, retaliatory strikes, the downing of a Ukrainian passenger plane by Iranian forces, and public threats exchanged between leaders^[17] —sustained high tensions through early 2020.

Citizens of Iran and several other countries were temporarily banned from entering the United States by the executive order "Protecting the Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into the United States" of 27 January 2017. It did not allow Iranian citizens or those suspected of being Iranian citizens entry into the US, including Iranian passport holders, except for transit.^[1] All passengers and crew members of any nationality had to ensure they do not have Iranian entry stamps in their passports. There are no direct flights between Iran and the USA so all travel must transit through a third country, and no Iranian aircraft may enter USA airspace.

The Trump administration was seen as having embarked on the path of strengthening an informal coalition with Saudi Arabia, Israel, the United Arab Emirates and other Sunni Gulf states, with a view to rolling back Iran's influence in the region.^[3]

While during his campaign Donald Trump had denounced the JCPOA as "the worst deal ever negotiated" and a disaster that could lead to a nuclear holocaust,^[18] in April 2017, the Trump administration certified that Iran was in compliance with the JCPOA.^[19]

Between January and late July 2017, Twitter had identified and shut down over 7,000 accounts created by Iranian influence operations.^[20]

In July 2017, the vast majority of congressional Democrats and Republicans voted in favor of the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) that grouped together sanctions against Iran, Russia and North Korea.^[21][22] On 2 August 2017, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi stated that, "In our view the nuclear deal has been violated".^[22] In September 2017, speaking to the UN General Assembly, the countries′ presidents exchanged offensive remarks and expressed opposing views on the JCPOA.^[23][24]

In May 2018, Donald Trump decided to pull out of the JCPOA, announcing he would reimpose economic sanctions on Iran effective from 4 November that year.^[25] In response, the Iranian president Hassan Rouhani said that if needed he would "begin our industrial enrichment without any limitations".^[4]{^[4] On 5 July, Iran threatened to close off the Strait of Hormuz if U.S. decided to re-impose oil sanctions on Iran following US withdrawal from the JCPOA.^[26]

In late July 2018, against the backdrop of a harsh exchange of threats between the presidents of the U.S. and Iran, a large tanker flying a Saudi flag and transporting some 2 million barrels of oil to Egypt was struck in the Bab-el-Mandeb strait near the port of Hodeida by the Houthi rebels in Yemen, believed to be armed and financed by Iran. The incident, which made Saudi Arabia halt oil shipments through the strait, was seen by analysts as greatly escalating tensions.^[27][28] It was reported that the Trump administration was conducting a program to foment various opposition groups in Iran.^[29]

On 13 August 2018, Iranian Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei banned direct talks with U.S., referring to the failure of the previous ones.^[30] "There will be no war, nor will we negotiate with the US" and "Even if we ever—impossible as it is—negotiated with the US, it would never ever be with the current US administration," Khamenei said.^[5] He added that the United States never budges on the primary goal they pursue in negotiations, which are normally based on give and take, and "reneges on its own end of the bargain" after the negotiation.^[31] In November 2018, all the sanctions removed in 2015 were re-imposed on Iran by the Trump administration.^[32]

In October 2018 the International Court of Justice provisionally ordered the United States to cancel its sanctions against Iran, relying on the 1955 Treaty of Amity.^[33] In response, the United States withdrew from the treaty.^[33]

On 7 March 2019, Acting U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Jonathan Cohen, in a letter to Secretary-General António Guterres, urged the United Nations to put new sanctions on Iran for its new missile activities.^[34]

The United States has opposed the activities of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) based on "the group's growing involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as its support for extremists throughout the Middle East".^[35] On 8 April 2019, the US Department of State announced its intent to brand the IRGC a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO), effective April 15.^[2]

The Iranian parliament responded by ratifying a motion designating "all legal and real persons and troops of the United States and its allies operating in the West Asian region" terrorists, calling any aid to them a terrorist act and pressing the government to defuse the threat of IRGC designation through multilateral negotiations with international organizations.^[36] The nonbinding resolution cited "the terrorist nature of the United States regime, particularly that part of the American military and security forces and the US Central Command which have been carrying out acts of terrorism in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, and Iran in the past quarter-century, and have given overt support to terrorist plans."^[37] Soon after, the Supreme National Security Council cited similar concerns in declaring the IRGC designation dangerous and illegal, the United States a "terrorist government" and CENTCOM its primary "terrorist organization".^[38][39]

The US State Department Special Briefing also warned against increasing involvement of the IRGC forces in the Syrian conflict:

We believe this is an alarming trend. It's borne out by the facts and it merits closer inspection as we evaluate the landscape of terrorist activity globally. Add to this, of course, is the deepening commitment both Iran and Hezbollah have made to fight and kill on behalf of the Assad regime in Syria. That involvement, of course, is hardening the conflict and threatening to spread the violence across the region. Hezbollah and the Iranian leadership share a similar world view and strategic vision and are seeking to exploit the current unrest in the region to their advantage. This approach has increased sectarian tensions and conflict and serves further as a destabilizing force during a time of great change throughout the region.^[40]

Michael Rubin, a senior research fellow with the American Enterprise Institute, said he feared the IRGC designation "might exculpate the rest of the regime when, in reality, the IRGC's activities cannot be separated from the state leadership of Supreme Leader Khamenei or President Ahmadinejad".^[41] The Iranian newspaper Kayhan quoted the commander of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards as threatening to deal heavier blows against the United States in response to the designation.^[42] Mohammad Khatami, former Reforms Front Iranian President hoped to "remind those in the U.S. Congress or elsewhere working for the benefit of the American nation to stand against these measures or the wall between the two countries grow taller and thicker".^[43]

This would be the first time that official armed units of sovereign states are included in a list of banned terrorist groups.^[44] Kaveh L. Afrasiabi, a former consultant to the UN's program of Dialogue Among Civilizations,^[45] stated in Asia Times Online that the move has possible legal implications: "Under international law, it could be challenged as illegal, and untenable, by isolating a branch of the Iranian government for selective targeting. This is contrary to the 1981 Algiers Accords' pledge of non-interference in Iran's internal affairs by the US government".^[46] News leaks about the prospective designation worried European governments and private sector firms, which could face prosecution in American courts for working with the IRGC.^[47]

In April 2019 the U.S. threatened to sanction countries continuing to buy oil from Iran after an initial six-month waiver announced in November 2018 expired.^[48] According to the BBC, U.S. sanctions against Iran "have led to a sharp downturn in Iran's economy, pushing the value of its currency to record lows, quadrupling its annual inflation rate, driving away foreign investors, and triggering protests."^[49] In December 2018, Iran's President Hassan Rouhani warned: "If one day they want to prevent the export of Iran's oil, then no oil will be exported from the Persian Gulf."^[50]

Tensions between Iran and the United States escalated in May 2019, with the U.S. deploying more military assets to the Persian Gulf region after receiving intelligence reports of an alleged "campaign" by Iran and its "proxies" to threaten U.S. forces and Strait of Hormuz oil shipping. American officials pointed to threats against commercial shipping and potential attacks by militias with Iranian ties on American troops in Iraq while also citing intelligence reports that included photographs of missiles on dhows and other small boats in the Persian Gulf, supposedly put there by Iranian paramilitary forces. The United States feared they could be fired at its Navy.^[6][51][52]

On 5 May, U.S. national security adviser John Bolton announced that the U.S. was deploying the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group and four B-52 bombers to the Middle East to "send a clear and unmistakable message" to Iran following Israeli intelligence reports of an alleged Iranian plot to attack U.S. forces in the region. Bolton said, "The United States is not seeking war with the Iranian regime, but we are fully prepared to respond to any attack."^[7][53] The deployed USS Abraham Lincoln is in the Arabian Sea, outside the Persian Gulf.^[54]

On 7 May, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made a surprise midnight visit to Baghdad after canceling a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Pompeo told Iraqi President Barham Salih and Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi that they had a responsibility to protect Americans in Iraq. On 8 May, an advisor to Ayatollah Khamenei stated Iran was confident the U.S. was both unwilling and unable to start a war with Iran. On the same day, Iran announced that it would reduce its commitment to the JCPOA nuclear deal, which the U.S. pulled out of in May 2018. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani set a 60-day deadline for the EU and world powers to rescue the current deal before it resumed higher uranium enrichment. The United States Air Forces Central Command announced that F-15C Eagle fighter jets were repositioned within the region to "defend U.S. forces and interests in the region."^[55] On 10 May, the U.S. deployed the Marine transport ship USS Arlington and a Patriot SAM battery to the Middle East. The Pentagon said the buildup was in response to "heightened Iranian readiness to conduct offensive operations."^[56] On September 10, after the resignation of U.S. national security advisor John R. Bolton, Iran stated that his resignation will not lead to talks between Washington and Tehran.^[57] On September 16, Iran said that President Hassan Rouhani will not meet with U.S. President Donald Trump at the United Nations, unless sanctions on Iran are lifted.^[58]

In May 2019, U.S.-Iran tensions rose after four ships were attacked near the UAE port of Fujairah, with Iran or its proxies suspected. The U.S. sent military warnings and considered deploying 120,000 troops. On 14 May, both countries downplayed war, but Houthi rebels, linked to Iran, attacked a Saudi pipeline. The U.S. then withdrew non-essential staff from Iraq. On 24 May, the U.S. deployed 1,500 more troops to the Gulf. Despite this, Iran complied with the nuclear deal, and both countries showed willingness to negotiate, though conditions remained tense.

Following a second incident on June 17 in the Gulf of Oman in which two oil tankers caught fire after allegedly being attacked by limpet mines or by flying objects, the U.S. announced the deployment of 1,000 additional soldiers to the Middle East.^[59]

Tensions between the U.S. and Iran escalated significantly in June 2019. On June 20, Iran shot down a U.S. RQ-4A Global Hawk drone, claiming it had violated Iranian airspace.^[8] The U.S. denied this, stating it was in international airspace.^[61] President Trump initially ordered a retaliatory military strike but canceled it after learning about potential casualties.^[9] In retaliation, the U.S. conducted cyberattacks on Iran’s missile control systems.^[10] On June 24, Trump imposed new sanctions on Iranian leadership, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Iran, meanwhile, refused to negotiate unless the sanctions were lifted. The U.S. continued to deploy military assets to the region, including fighter jets.

On July 18, according to the Pentagon, USS Boxer took defensive action against an Iranian drone that had closed with the ship in the Persian Gulf to approximately 1,000 yards (910 m) and jammed the drone, causing downing of the aircraft.^[62] Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi denied any of the country's drones had been brought down.^[63] Iran showed footage of the USS Boxer in a move to disprove Donald Trump's claims that the US shot down an Iranian drone in the Gulf.^[64]

On 15 September 2019, Iran rejected American accusations of conducting drone attacks on Saudi Arabia's oil fields. Iran also warned that it is ready for a "full-fledged" war.^[11]

On November 15, 2019, Iran raised gasoline prices by 50%, leading to violent protests across the country,^[12] with demonstrators calling for President Hassan Rouhani's resignation. The price hikes were driven by worsening economic conditions, partly due to U.S. sanctions. In response, the U.S. expressed support for the protesters and condemned the Iranian government. On December 3, 2019, President Trump, during a NATO summit in London, claimed that the Iranian authorities were "killing perhaps thousands and thousands of people" amid the unrest.

A major escalation occurred on 27 December 2019, when the K-1 Air Base in Iraq’s Kirkuk Governorate, which housed both U.S. and Iraqi forces, was attacked with Katyusha rockets. The strike killed a U.S. civilian contractor and injuring several Iraqi Security Forces personnel as well as four U.S. soldiers.^[13][65] U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo condemned the attack and blamed Iranian-backed Shi'ite militias, particularly Kata'ib Hezbollah.^[66]

That same day, Iran, Russia, and China launched a four-day naval exercise in the Gulf of Oman.^[67] According to Iranian sources, the drills were a response to recent U.S.–Saudi regional maneuvers and intended to show that Iran was not regionally isolated.^[68][69] In contrast, China's Ministry of National Defense described the exercise as a routine military exchange unrelated to international tensions.^[68]
In response to a series of attacks on Iraqi military bases, in particular the deadly strike on K-1 Air Base, U.S. forces launched airstrikes on 29 December targeting Kata'ib Hezbollah facilities in Iraq and Syria, despite the group's denial of involvement in the K-1 attack.^[14] The operation killed 25 militants and wounded at least 55 others.^[70] According to the U.S. Department of Defense, the strikes aimed to deter further assaults on coalition forces participating in Operation Inherent Resolve. At the time, approximately 5,000 U.S. troops were stationed in Iraq to support efforts against Islamic State remnants.^[71][72] Two days later, in a protest against the U.S. air strikes, the U.S embassy in Bhagdad was attacked by Iraqi Shiite militiamen and their supporters.^[15] U.S. Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper stated that the United States would carry out pre-emptive strikes against Iranian-backed groups in Iraq and Syria if there are signs they are preparing further attacks on American forces or bases in the region.^[73]

On January 3, 2020, Iranian General Qasem Soleimani was killed in a U.S. drone strike near Baghdad International Airport,^[74] following an order from U.S. president Donald Trump.^[16] Soleimani was a key military leader, and head of Iran's Quds Force, a branch of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which is designated as a terrorist organization by both the United States and the European Union,^[75][76] and he played a central role in Iran’s regional military strategy. Prior to the attack, both Trump’s then-chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, and close advisor Senator Lindsey Graham had advised against targeting such a senior Iranian figure.^[77] President Trump justified the operation by claiming that Soleimani was planning attacks against four U.S. Embassies across the Middle East.^[78][79] However, U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper later clarified that while there was a perceived threat, he had not seen intelligence specifically pointing to planned embassy attacks.^[80]

On the same day as the Baghdad airport strike, an IRGC financier and key commander, Abdulreza Shahlai was unsuccessfully targeted by U.S. drones in Yemen,^[81] which killed another Quds Force operative instead.^[82] Shahlai had previously been linked to the killing of five American soldiers in Karbala in 2007.^[83] According to the Washington Post the strike suggested the operation may have aimed to weaken IRGC leadership more broadly, rather than solely prevent an imminent threat.^[84]

Shortly after Soleimani's assassination, Trump deployed an additional 3,000 troops to the Middle East, in addition to 14,000 already stationed there since May the previous year.^[85] In retaliation to the assassination, Iran vowed "severe revenge" and launched missiles at U.S. military bases in Iraq on January 7. Despite the missile strikes, no casualties were reported. Additionally, Iran issued an arrest warrant for 36 U.S. officials, including President Trump, for their role in Soleimani's killing.^[86] The attack on Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752, which was accidently shot down by the IRGC, further intensified the crisis.

Amid fears of a direct confrontation between the two nations, Trump warned Iran on 4 January against attacking U.S. assets or any Americans in the region. He threatened that in the event of an Iranian attack, the U.S. would target 52 Iranian sites, including cultural sites, which represented the 52 hostages taken by Iran in 1979, and would strike "very fast and very hard".^[87] The White House officially notified the U.S. Congress about the killing of Qassem Soleimani, in accordance with the 1973 War Powers Resolution, a day after the assassination had occurred.^[88] Meanwhile, thousands of people in cities across the U.S. participated in antiwar demonstrations against a new conflict in the Middle East.^[89]

Washington officials claimed in mid March 2020 that an Iran-backed militia group attacked a US^[90] military base in Iraq, which killed two American soldiers and a British soldier. Later, during the same week,^[91] the US military launched a missile strike against Kata'ib Hezbollah in Iraq, which led to the killing of militiamen, a civilian present at the base, along with five Iraqi servicemen. In retaliation, rockets again struck near the Green Zone of the US Embassy in Baghdad.^[92]

On 17 January 2020, after Iran attacked two U.S. military bases in Iraq, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei reappeared, after eight years, in Tehran Friday Prayer and defended the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and said "... The day that tens of millions in Iran and hundreds of thousands in Iraq and other countries came to the streets to honor the blood of the Quds Force commander, shaping the biggest farewell of the world,"^[93] Ayatollah Khamenei said. "Nothing can do that except of the powerful hand of God." he added "The IRGC's reaction was a military blow, but even beyond, it was a blow to the U.S. image as a superpower."^[94] Donald Trump replied in tweets, Khamenei "should be very careful with his words!".^[95][17]

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani wrote a public letter to world leaders asking for help on 14 March 2020, saying his country was struggling to fight the outbreak due to lack of access to international markets as a result of the United States sanctions against Iran.^[96] Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei claimed that the virus was genetically targeted at Iranians by the US, and this is why it is seriously affecting Iran. He did not offer any evidence.^[97][98]

U.S. President Donald Trump said he would be willing to provide coronavirus aid, such as ventilators, to Iran to help deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.^[99]

The Noor-1 aircraft flew into orbit on a multi-stage rocket and was launched from the Shahroud missile range in northern Iran.^[100] While not a present threat to the United States and other Iranian adversaries, the completion of the mission confirms the technical competency of the nascent Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).^[101]

Though lauded by the Tasnim News Agency as a national "milestone," the Islamic Republic is not inexperienced in space exploration and, particularly, low-earth orbit operations. In both 2009, 2015, and 2017, Iran sent, respectively, the Omid, Fajr, and Simorgh satellites into orbit.^[102]

Despite recent setbacks with high-ranking assassinations and pandemic resistance, the 2020 launch sends a clear message to all Middle Eastern and transoceanic powers: Iran continues to make progress in its quest for regional supremacy and advanced domestic and military technology.^[102] Mounting pressure in the last decade has U.S. military and political leaders fearful of Iran's capability of creating ballistic-carrying spacecraft.^[102] U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo disapproved of Iran's successful launch, stating that it proves that the space program is "neither peaceful nor entirely civilian," but the Trump administration, supposedly, "never believed this fiction."^[103][104] During a press conference on 22 April, Pompeo said: "The Iranians have consistently said that these missile programs were disconnected from their military, that these were purely commercial enterprises. I think today's launch proves what we've been saying all along here in the United States: The IRGC, a designated terrorist organization, launched a missile today."^[104]

In May 2020, five Iranian tankers carrying millions of dollars worth of petrol and similar products were sailed to Venezuela, as part of a wider deal between the two US-sanctioned nations amid heightened tensions between Tehran and Washington. The tankers' voyage came after Venezuela's president Nicolás Maduro had already turned to Iran for help flying in chemicals needed at an aging refinery amid a petrol shortage, a symptom of the wider economic and political chaos gripping Latin America's one-time largest oil producer.^[105]

The U.S. was seeking to seize Iranian tankers sailing toward Venezuela with oil and gasoline supplied by Iran, the latest attempt to disrupt ever-closer trade ties between the two heavily sanctioned anti-American allies. Reports suggested four US Navy warships were in the Caribbean for a 'possible confrontation with Iran's tankers'.^[106]

Following the US threat, in a letter to United Nations chief António Guterres, Mohammad Javad Zarif warned against "America's movements in deploying its navy to the Caribbean in order to intervene and create disruption in [the] transfer of Iran's fuel to Venezuela". He said any such action would be "illegal and a form of piracy" adding that the US would be responsible for "the consequences", according to a foreign ministry statement.^[105]

On 25 May 2020, Venezuela welcomed the arrival of the first of five Iranian tankers carrying gasoline, providing urgently needed fuel to the country amid a severe crisis. The rest of Iranian oil tankers arrived to their destination shortly without any disruption. The gasoline shipments arrived in defiance of strict U.S. sanctions imposed by the Trump administration on both nations, marking a new stage in the deepening relationship between Venezuela and Iran.^[107]

In August 2020, U.S. intelligence officials assessed that Iran offered bounties to the Taliban-linked Haqqani network to kill foreign servicemembers, including Americans, in Afghanistan.^[108][109] U.S. intelligence determined that Iran paid bounties to Taliban insurgents for the 2019 attack on Bagram airport.^[110] According to CNN, Donald Trump's administration has "never mentioned Iran's connection to the bombing, an omission current and former officials said was connected to the broader prioritization of the peace agreement and withdrawal from Afghanistan."^[108]

During the 2020 United States presidential election, Iran, along with China and Russia, was suspected of foreign interference in the election. When asked by moderator Kristen Welker about how intelligence officials recently uncovered evidence of Iranian interference in the election during the 2020 United States presidential debates, Democratic candidate Joe Biden responded that Iran would "pay a price" for interfering in the election.^[111]

Following Biden's victory against incumbent Donald Trump, Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said that Biden's administration has a chance to "compensate for previous mistakes".^[112]

On 1 August 2020 Iranian security forces detained US-based Iranian monarchist Jamshid Sharmahd. He was suspected of masterminding the 2008 Shiraz mosque bombing which killed 14 people and wounded 215.^[113] Iran claimed Jamshid Sharmahd, the head of pro-monarchy militant group Tondar, "directed armed and terrorist acts in Iran from America". Iran views Tondar (Persian for thunder) also known as the Kingdom Assembly of Iran, as a terrorist organization. The authorities have asserted links between the group and several people in connection to the 2008 bombing.^[114]

On 7 August 2020 Abu Muhammad al-Masri, second-in-command leader of Al-Qaeda, while driving his car in the Pasdaran neighborhood of Tehran, Iran, was shot to death by Israeli agents.^[115][116] On January 12, 2021, Mike Pompeo confirmed his death,^[117] although no further proof was given from either side.