diff --git a/ir/memory.cpp b/ir/memory.cpp
index c924b8481..4502f7b5c 100644
--- a/ir/memory.cpp
+++ b/ir/memory.cpp
@@ -1230,7 +1230,13 @@ void Memory::mkNonPoisonAxioms(bool local) {
   }
 }
 
-static expr mk_sub_byte_zext_store_cond(const Byte &val, const Byte &val2) {
+expr Memory::mkSubByteZExtStoreCond(const Byte &val, const Byte &val2) const {
+  bool mk_axiom = &val == &val2;
+
+  // optimization: the initial block is assumed to follow the ABI already.
+  if (!mk_axiom && isInitialMemBlock(val.p, true))
+    return true;
+
   bool always_1_byte = bits_byte >= (1u << num_sub_byte_bits);
   auto stored_bits   = val.numStoredBits();
   auto num_bytes
@@ -1243,6 +1249,7 @@ static expr mk_sub_byte_zext_store_cond(const Byte &val, const Byte &val2) {
       ).zextOrTrunc(bits_byte);
 
   return val.isPtr() ||
+         (mk_axiom ? expr(false) : !val.boolNonptrNonpoison()) ||
          stored_bits == 0 ||
          val.byteNumber() != num_bytes ||
          val2.nonptrValue().lshr(leftover_bits) == 0;
@@ -1271,7 +1278,7 @@ void Memory::mkNonlocalValAxioms(bool skip_consts) {
     // per the ABI.
     if (num_sub_byte_bits && isAsmMode()) {
       state->addAxiom(
-        expr::mkForAll({ offset }, mk_sub_byte_zext_store_cond(byte, byte)));
+        expr::mkForAll({ offset }, mkSubByteZExtStoreCond(byte, byte)));
     }
 
     if (!does_ptr_mem_access)
@@ -2385,7 +2392,7 @@ expr Memory::blockValRefined(const Memory &other, unsigned bid, bool local,
 
   // The ABI requires that sub-byte stores zero extend the stored value
   if (num_sub_byte_bits && other.isAsmMode())
-    r &= mk_sub_byte_zext_store_cond(val, val2);
+    r &= mkSubByteZExtStoreCond(val, val2);
 
   return r;
 }
diff --git a/ir/memory.h b/ir/memory.h
index b2d2b154c..ce1a1f0c7 100644
--- a/ir/memory.h
+++ b/ir/memory.h
@@ -95,6 +95,7 @@ class Byte {
   static unsigned bitsByte();
 
   friend std::ostream& operator<<(std::ostream &os, const Byte &byte);
+  friend class Memory;
 };
 
 
@@ -181,6 +182,7 @@ class Memory {
   smt::expr isBlockAlive(const smt::expr &bid, bool local) const;
 
   void mkNonPoisonAxioms(bool local);
+  smt::expr mkSubByteZExtStoreCond(const Byte &val, const Byte &val2) const;
   void mkNonlocalValAxioms(bool skip_consts);
 
   bool mayalias(bool local, unsigned bid, const smt::expr &offset,
diff --git a/tests/alive-tv/asm/delete-store.srctgt.ll b/tests/alive-tv/asm/delete-store.srctgt.ll
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b4318d730
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/alive-tv/asm/delete-store.srctgt.ll
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+; TEST-ARGS: -tgt-is-asm
+; SKIP-IDENTITY
+
+define void @src(ptr %0) {
+  %2 = load i1, ptr %0, align 1
+  store i1 %2, ptr %0, align 1
+  ret void
+}
+
+define void @tgt(ptr %0) {
+  ret void
+}