diff --git a/src/input/return_enums.rs b/src/input/return_enums.rs
index d28bac2ec..9722669cc 100644
--- a/src/input/return_enums.rs
+++ b/src/input/return_enums.rs
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ use serde::{ser::Error, Serialize, Serializer};
 use crate::errors::{
     py_err_string, ErrorType, ErrorTypeDefaults, InputValue, ToErrorValue, ValError, ValLineError, ValResult,
 };
+use crate::py_gc::PyGcTraverse;
 use crate::tools::{extract_i64, new_py_string, py_err};
 use crate::validators::{CombinedValidator, Exactness, ValidationState, Validator};
 
@@ -327,6 +328,15 @@ pub enum GenericIterator<'data> {
     JsonArray(GenericJsonIterator<'data>),
 }
 
+impl PyGcTraverse for GenericIterator<'_> {
+    fn py_gc_traverse(&self, visit: &pyo3::PyVisit<'_>) -> Result<(), pyo3::PyTraverseError> {
+        if let Self::PyIterator(iter) = self {
+            iter.py_gc_traverse(visit)?;
+        }
+        Ok(())
+    }
+}
+
 impl GenericIterator<'_> {
     pub(crate) fn into_static(self) -> GenericIterator<'static> {
         match self {
@@ -385,6 +395,8 @@ impl GenericPyIterator {
     }
 }
 
+impl_py_gc_traverse!(GenericPyIterator { obj, iter });
+
 #[derive(Debug, Clone)]
 pub struct GenericJsonIterator<'data> {
     array: JsonArray<'data>,
diff --git a/src/validators/generator.rs b/src/validators/generator.rs
index 904f4a0ef..de9949a8c 100644
--- a/src/validators/generator.rs
+++ b/src/validators/generator.rs
@@ -1,11 +1,12 @@
 use std::fmt;
 use std::sync::Arc;
 
-use pyo3::prelude::*;
 use pyo3::types::PyDict;
+use pyo3::{prelude::*, PyTraverseError, PyVisit};
 
 use crate::errors::{ErrorType, LocItem, ValError, ValResult};
 use crate::input::{BorrowInput, GenericIterator, Input};
+use crate::py_gc::PyGcTraverse;
 use crate::recursion_guard::RecursionState;
 use crate::tools::SchemaDict;
 use crate::ValidationError;
@@ -201,6 +202,12 @@ impl ValidatorIterator {
     fn __str__(&self) -> String {
         self.__repr__()
     }
+
+    fn __traverse__(&self, visit: PyVisit<'_>) -> Result<(), PyTraverseError> {
+        self.iterator.py_gc_traverse(&visit)?;
+        self.validator.py_gc_traverse(&visit)?;
+        Ok(())
+    }
 }
 
 /// Owned validator wrapper for use in generators in functions, this can be passed back to python
diff --git a/tests/test_garbage_collection.py b/tests/test_garbage_collection.py
index 97107e61b..f4e178f26 100644
--- a/tests/test_garbage_collection.py
+++ b/tests/test_garbage_collection.py
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import gc
 import platform
-from typing import Any
+from typing import Any, Iterable
 from weakref import WeakValueDictionary
 
 import pytest
@@ -79,3 +79,42 @@ class MyModel(BaseModel):
     gc.collect(2)
 
     assert len(cache) == 0
+
+
+@pytest.mark.xfail(
+    condition=platform.python_implementation() == 'PyPy', reason='https://foss.heptapod.net/pypy/pypy/-/issues/3899'
+)
+def test_gc_validator_iterator() -> None:
+    # test for https://github.com/pydantic/pydantic/issues/9243
+    class MyModel:
+        iter: Iterable[int]
+
+    v = SchemaValidator(
+        core_schema.model_schema(
+            MyModel,
+            core_schema.model_fields_schema(
+                {'iter': core_schema.model_field(core_schema.generator_schema(core_schema.int_schema()))}
+            ),
+        ),
+    )
+
+    class MyIterable:
+        def __iter__(self):
+            return self
+
+        def __next__(self):
+            raise StopIteration()
+
+    cache: 'WeakValueDictionary[int, Any]' = WeakValueDictionary()
+
+    for _ in range(10_000):
+        iterable = MyIterable()
+        cache[id(iterable)] = iterable
+        v.validate_python({'iter': iterable})
+        del iterable
+
+    gc.collect(0)
+    gc.collect(1)
+    gc.collect(2)
+
+    assert len(cache) == 0