diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core_and_Builtins/2026-04-21-15-07-03.gh-issue-148825.AbJzmZ.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core_and_Builtins/2026-04-21-15-07-03.gh-issue-148825.AbJzmZ.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..5cf727b5d91fad
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core_and_Builtins/2026-04-21-15-07-03.gh-issue-148825.AbJzmZ.rst
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Fix build error if specialization is disabled.
diff --git a/Python/specialize.c b/Python/specialize.c
index 793bac58adf41a..8731cebc0059fc 100644
--- a/Python/specialize.c
+++ b/Python/specialize.c
@@ -112,8 +112,10 @@ _PyCode_Quicken(_Py_CODEUNIT *instructions, Py_ssize_t size, int enable_counters
         }
     }
     #else
+    int opcode = 0;
     for (Py_ssize_t i = 0; i < size-1; i++) {
-        if (instructions[i].op.code == GET_ITER) {
+        opcode = instructions[i].op.code;
+        if (opcode == GET_ITER) {
             fixup_getiter(&instructions[i], flags);
         }
         i += _PyOpcode_Caches[opcode];