Between 1779 and 1789 the Zands fought among themselves over their legacy. In the end it fell to the gallant Loṭf ʿAlī, the Zands’ last hope. Āghā Muḥammad Khan relentlessly hunted him down until he overcame and killed him at the southeastern city of Kermān in 1794. In 1796 Āghā Muḥammad Khan assumed the imperial diadem, and later in the same year he took Mashhad. Shah Rokh died of the tortures inflicted on him to make him reveal the complete tally of the Afshārids’ treasure. Āghā Muḥammad was cruel and he was avaricious. Karīm Khan’s commercial efforts were nullified by his successors’ quarrels. With cruel irony, attempts to revive the Persian Gulf trade were followed by a British mission from India in 1800, which ultimately opened the way for a drain of Persian bullion to India. This drain was made inevitable by the damage done to Iran’s productive capacity during Āghā Muḥammad Khan’s campaigns to conquer the country.
