diff --git a/numpy/core/src/multiarray/nditer_pywrap.c b/numpy/core/src/multiarray/nditer_pywrap.c
index 2675496ab4d6..94dd526ceb6c 100644
--- a/numpy/core/src/multiarray/nditer_pywrap.c
+++ b/numpy/core/src/multiarray/nditer_pywrap.c
@@ -1045,6 +1045,7 @@ NpyIter_NestedIters(PyObject *NPY_UNUSED(self),
 
         if (iter->iter == NULL) {
             Py_DECREF(ret);
+            Py_DECREF(iter);
             goto fail;
         }