Exhibit 31.1

10-Q Exhibit 31.1: Certifications Pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002

I, Lee T.
Kranefuss, certify that:

1. I have reviewed this report on Form 10-Q of the iShares Silver Trust;

2. Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make the statements made, in
light of the circumstances under which such statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by this report;

3. Based on my
knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial information included in this report, fairly present in all material respects the financial condition, results of operations and cash flows of the registrant as of, and for, the periods
presented in this report;

4. The other certifying officer and I are responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as
defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) for the registrant and have:



| | a) | Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our supervision, to ensure that material information
relating to the registrant, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to us by others within those entities, particularly during the period in which this report is being prepared;
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| | b) | Evaluated the effectiveness of the registrants disclosure controls and procedures and presented in this report our conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure
controls and procedures, as of the end of the period covered by this report based on such evaluation; and
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| | c) | Disclosed in this report any change in the registrants internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the registrants most recent fiscal quarter that has
materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the registrants internal control over financial reporting; and
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5.
The other certifying officer and I have disclosed, based on our most recent evaluation of internal control over financial reporting, to the registrants auditors, the auditors of Barclays Global Investors, N. A. (BGI), the board of
directors of Barclays Global Investors International Inc. (BGII), the auditors of BGII and of Barclays Global Investors UK Holdings Limited (BGI-UK), the audit committee of the board of directors of BGI and the audit
committee of the board of directors of BGI-UK (or persons performing the equivalent functions):



| | a) | All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or operation of internal control over financial reporting which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the
registrants ability to record, process, summarize, and report financial information; and
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| | b) | Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves persons who have a significant role in the registrants internal control over financial reporting.
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Date: August 21, 2006



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|/s/    LEE T. KRANEFUSS                                               
|Lee T. Kranefuss Chief Executive Officer (Principal executive officer)