diff --git a/trie/iterator.go b/trie/iterator.go
index 64110c6d9..00b890eb8 100644
--- a/trie/iterator.go
+++ b/trie/iterator.go
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ import (
 	"errors"
 
 	"github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/common"
+	"github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/rlp"
 )
 
 // Iterator is a key-value trie iterator that traverses a Trie.
@@ -55,31 +56,50 @@ func (it *Iterator) Next() bool {
 	return false
 }
 
+// Prove generates the Merkle proof for the leaf node the iterator is currently
+// positioned on.
+func (it *Iterator) Prove() [][]byte {
+	return it.nodeIt.LeafProof()
+}
+
 // NodeIterator is an iterator to traverse the trie pre-order.
 type NodeIterator interface {
 	// Next moves the iterator to the next node. If the parameter is false, any child
 	// nodes will be skipped.
 	Next(bool) bool
+
 	// Error returns the error status of the iterator.
 	Error() error
 
 	// Hash returns the hash of the current node.
 	Hash() common.Hash
+
 	// Parent returns the hash of the parent of the current node. The hash may be the one
 	// grandparent if the immediate parent is an internal node with no hash.
 	Parent() common.Hash
+
 	// Path returns the hex-encoded path to the current node.
 	// Callers must not retain references to the return value after calling Next.
 	// For leaf nodes, the last element of the path is the 'terminator symbol' 0x10.
 	Path() []byte
 
 	// Leaf returns true iff the current node is a leaf node.
-	// LeafBlob, LeafKey return the contents and key of the leaf node. These
-	// method panic if the iterator is not positioned at a leaf.
-	// Callers must not retain references to their return value after calling Next
 	Leaf() bool
-	LeafBlob() []byte
+
+	// LeafKey returns the key of the leaf. The method panics if the iterator is not
+	// positioned at a leaf. Callers must not retain references to the value after
+	// calling Next.
 	LeafKey() []byte
+
+	// LeafBlob returns the content of the leaf. The method panics if the iterator
+	// is not positioned at a leaf. Callers must not retain references to the value
+	// after calling Next.
+	LeafBlob() []byte
+
+	// LeafProof returns the Merkle proof of the leaf. The method panics if the
+	// iterator is not positioned at a leaf. Callers must not retain references
+	// to the value after calling Next.
+	LeafProof() [][]byte
 }
 
 // nodeIteratorState represents the iteration state at one particular node of the
@@ -139,6 +159,15 @@ func (it *nodeIterator) Leaf() bool {
 	return hasTerm(it.path)
 }
 
+func (it *nodeIterator) LeafKey() []byte {
+	if len(it.stack) > 0 {
+		if _, ok := it.stack[len(it.stack)-1].node.(valueNode); ok {
+			return hexToKeybytes(it.path)
+		}
+	}
+	panic("not at leaf")
+}
+
 func (it *nodeIterator) LeafBlob() []byte {
 	if len(it.stack) > 0 {
 		if node, ok := it.stack[len(it.stack)-1].node.(valueNode); ok {
@@ -148,10 +177,22 @@ func (it *nodeIterator) LeafBlob() []byte {
 	panic("not at leaf")
 }
 
-func (it *nodeIterator) LeafKey() []byte {
+func (it *nodeIterator) LeafProof() [][]byte {
 	if len(it.stack) > 0 {
 		if _, ok := it.stack[len(it.stack)-1].node.(valueNode); ok {
-			return hexToKeybytes(it.path)
+			hasher := newHasher(0, 0, nil)
+			proofs := make([][]byte, 0, len(it.stack))
+
+			for i, item := range it.stack[:len(it.stack)-1] {
+				// Gather nodes that end up as hash nodes (or the root)
+				node, _, _ := hasher.hashChildren(item.node, nil)
+				hashed, _ := hasher.store(node, nil, false)
+				if _, ok := hashed.(hashNode); ok || i == 0 {
+					enc, _ := rlp.EncodeToBytes(node)
+					proofs = append(proofs, enc)
+				}
+			}
+			return proofs
 		}
 	}
 	panic("not at leaf")
@@ -361,12 +402,16 @@ func (it *differenceIterator) Leaf() bool {
 	return it.b.Leaf()
 }
 
+func (it *differenceIterator) LeafKey() []byte {
+	return it.b.LeafKey()
+}
+
 func (it *differenceIterator) LeafBlob() []byte {
 	return it.b.LeafBlob()
 }
 
-func (it *differenceIterator) LeafKey() []byte {
-	return it.b.LeafKey()
+func (it *differenceIterator) LeafProof() [][]byte {
+	return it.b.LeafProof()
 }
 
 func (it *differenceIterator) Path() []byte {
@@ -464,12 +509,16 @@ func (it *unionIterator) Leaf() bool {
 	return (*it.items)[0].Leaf()
 }
 
+func (it *unionIterator) LeafKey() []byte {
+	return (*it.items)[0].LeafKey()
+}
+
 func (it *unionIterator) LeafBlob() []byte {
 	return (*it.items)[0].LeafBlob()
 }
 
-func (it *unionIterator) LeafKey() []byte {
-	return (*it.items)[0].LeafKey()
+func (it *unionIterator) LeafProof() [][]byte {
+	return (*it.items)[0].LeafProof()
 }
 
 func (it *unionIterator) Path() []byte {
@@ -509,12 +558,10 @@ func (it *unionIterator) Next(descend bool) bool {
 			heap.Push(it.items, skipped)
 		}
 	}
-
 	if least.Next(descend) {
 		it.count++
 		heap.Push(it.items, least)
 	}
-
 	return len(*it.items) > 0
 }
 
diff --git a/trie/proof_test.go b/trie/proof_test.go
index dee6f7d85..996f87478 100644
--- a/trie/proof_test.go
+++ b/trie/proof_test.go
@@ -32,20 +32,46 @@ func init() {
 	mrand.Seed(time.Now().Unix())
 }
 
+// makeProvers creates Merkle trie provers based on different implementations to
+// test all variations.
+func makeProvers(trie *Trie) []func(key []byte) *ethdb.MemDatabase {
+	var provers []func(key []byte) *ethdb.MemDatabase
+
+	// Create a direct trie based Merkle prover
+	provers = append(provers, func(key []byte) *ethdb.MemDatabase {
+		proof := ethdb.NewMemDatabase()
+		trie.Prove(key, 0, proof)
+		return proof
+	})
+	// Create a leaf iterator based Merkle prover
+	provers = append(provers, func(key []byte) *ethdb.MemDatabase {
+		proof := ethdb.NewMemDatabase()
+		if it := NewIterator(trie.NodeIterator(key)); it.Next() && bytes.Equal(key, it.Key) {
+			for _, p := range it.Prove() {
+				proof.Put(crypto.Keccak256(p), p)
+			}
+		}
+		return proof
+	})
+	return provers
+}
+
 func TestProof(t *testing.T) {
 	trie, vals := randomTrie(500)
 	root := trie.Hash()
-	for _, kv := range vals {
-		proofs := ethdb.NewMemDatabase()
-		if trie.Prove(kv.k, 0, proofs) != nil {
-			t.Fatalf("missing key %x while constructing proof", kv.k)
-		}
-		val, _, err := VerifyProof(root, kv.k, proofs)
-		if err != nil {
-			t.Fatalf("VerifyProof error for key %x: %v\nraw proof: %v", kv.k, err, proofs)
-		}
-		if !bytes.Equal(val, kv.v) {
-			t.Fatalf("VerifyProof returned wrong value for key %x: got %x, want %x", kv.k, val, kv.v)
+	for i, prover := range makeProvers(trie) {
+		for _, kv := range vals {
+			proof := prover(kv.k)
+			if proof == nil {
+				t.Fatalf("prover %d: missing key %x while constructing proof", i, kv.k)
+			}
+			val, _, err := VerifyProof(root, kv.k, proof)
+			if err != nil {
+				t.Fatalf("prover %d: failed to verify proof for key %x: %v\nraw proof: %x", i, kv.k, err, proof)
+			}
+			if !bytes.Equal(val, kv.v) {
+				t.Fatalf("prover %d: verified value mismatch for key %x: have %x, want %x", i, kv.k, val, kv.v)
+			}
 		}
 	}
 }
@@ -53,37 +79,66 @@ func TestProof(t *testing.T) {
 func TestOneElementProof(t *testing.T) {
 	trie := new(Trie)
 	updateString(trie, "k", "v")
-	proofs := ethdb.NewMemDatabase()
-	trie.Prove([]byte("k"), 0, proofs)
-	if len(proofs.Keys()) != 1 {
-		t.Error("proof should have one element")
-	}
-	val, _, err := VerifyProof(trie.Hash(), []byte("k"), proofs)
-	if err != nil {
-		t.Fatalf("VerifyProof error: %v\nproof hashes: %v", err, proofs.Keys())
-	}
-	if !bytes.Equal(val, []byte("v")) {
-		t.Fatalf("VerifyProof returned wrong value: got %x, want 'k'", val)
+	for i, prover := range makeProvers(trie) {
+		proof := prover([]byte("k"))
+		if proof == nil {
+			t.Fatalf("prover %d: nil proof", i)
+		}
+		if proof.Len() != 1 {
+			t.Errorf("prover %d: proof should have one element", i)
+		}
+		val, _, err := VerifyProof(trie.Hash(), []byte("k"), proof)
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("prover %d: failed to verify proof: %v\nraw proof: %x", i, err, proof)
+		}
+		if !bytes.Equal(val, []byte("v")) {
+			t.Fatalf("prover %d: verified value mismatch: have %x, want 'k'", i, val)
+		}
 	}
 }
 
-func TestVerifyBadProof(t *testing.T) {
+func TestBadProof(t *testing.T) {
 	trie, vals := randomTrie(800)
 	root := trie.Hash()
-	for _, kv := range vals {
-		proofs := ethdb.NewMemDatabase()
-		trie.Prove(kv.k, 0, proofs)
-		if len(proofs.Keys()) == 0 {
-			t.Fatal("zero length proof")
+	for i, prover := range makeProvers(trie) {
+		for _, kv := range vals {
+			proof := prover(kv.k)
+			if proof == nil {
+				t.Fatalf("prover %d: nil proof", i)
+			}
+			key := proof.Keys()[mrand.Intn(proof.Len())]
+			val, _ := proof.Get(key)
+			proof.Delete(key)
+
+			mutateByte(val)
+			proof.Put(crypto.Keccak256(val), val)
+
+			if _, _, err := VerifyProof(root, kv.k, proof); err == nil {
+				t.Fatalf("prover %d: expected proof to fail for key %x", i, kv.k)
+			}
 		}
-		keys := proofs.Keys()
-		key := keys[mrand.Intn(len(keys))]
-		node, _ := proofs.Get(key)
-		proofs.Delete(key)
-		mutateByte(node)
-		proofs.Put(crypto.Keccak256(node), node)
-		if _, _, err := VerifyProof(root, kv.k, proofs); err == nil {
-			t.Fatalf("expected proof to fail for key %x", kv.k)
+	}
+}
+
+// Tests that missing keys can also be proven. The test explicitly uses a single
+// entry trie and checks for missing keys both before and after the single entry.
+func TestMissingKeyProof(t *testing.T) {
+	trie := new(Trie)
+	updateString(trie, "k", "v")
+
+	for i, key := range []string{"a", "j", "l", "z"} {
+		proof := ethdb.NewMemDatabase()
+		trie.Prove([]byte(key), 0, proof)
+
+		if proof.Len() != 1 {
+			t.Errorf("test %d: proof should have one element", i)
+		}
+		val, _, err := VerifyProof(trie.Hash(), []byte(key), proof)
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("test %d: failed to verify proof: %v\nraw proof: %x", i, err, proof)
+		}
+		if val != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("test %d: verified value mismatch: have %x, want nil", i, val)
 		}
 	}
 }