diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core_and_Builtins/2026-06-20-14-00-00.gh-issue-151815.TmplIt.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core_and_Builtins/2026-06-20-14-00-00.gh-issue-151815.TmplIt.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..07c53738ef0402
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core_and_Builtins/2026-06-20-14-00-00.gh-issue-151815.TmplIt.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Fix segfault in t-string iterator deallocation when :c:func:`PyObject_GetIter`
+fails during construction, caused by ``Py_CLEAR`` on uninitialized pointers.
diff --git a/Objects/templateobject.c b/Objects/templateobject.c
index 1609e82b444516..7d168e6fcac789 100644
--- a/Objects/templateobject.c
+++ b/Objects/templateobject.c
@@ -222,24 +222,25 @@ static PyObject *
 template_iter(PyObject *op)
 {
     templateobject *self = templateobject_CAST(op);
-    templateiterobject *iter = PyObject_GC_New(templateiterobject, &_PyTemplateIter_Type);
-    if (iter == NULL) {
-        return NULL;
-    }
 
     PyObject *stringsiter = PyObject_GetIter(self->strings);
     if (stringsiter == NULL) {
-        Py_DECREF(iter);
         return NULL;
     }
 
     PyObject *interpolationsiter = PyObject_GetIter(self->interpolations);
     if (interpolationsiter == NULL) {
-        Py_DECREF(iter);
         Py_DECREF(stringsiter);
         return NULL;
     }
 
+    templateiterobject *iter = PyObject_GC_New(templateiterobject, &_PyTemplateIter_Type);
+    if (iter == NULL) {
+        Py_DECREF(stringsiter);
+        Py_DECREF(interpolationsiter);
+        return NULL;
+    }
+
     iter->stringsiter = stringsiter;
     iter->interpolationsiter = interpolationsiter;
     iter->from_strings = 1;