diff --git a/rust/lance/src/dataset/refs.rs b/rust/lance/src/dataset/refs.rs
index 0d3f65f7959..4a4845555db 100644
--- a/rust/lance/src/dataset/refs.rs
+++ b/rust/lance/src/dataset/refs.rs
@@ -573,6 +573,28 @@ impl Branches<'_> {
             log::warn!("BranchContents of {} does not exist", branch);
         }
 
+        // Tags identify snapshots by (branch, version). Deleting a branch removes its entire version chain,
+        // so any tag whose branch matches the deletion target blocks the operation, regardless of the tagged
+        // version.
+        let referenced_tags = self
+            .refs
+            .tags()
+            .list()
+            .await?
+            .into_iter()
+            .filter_map(|(name, contents)| {
+                (contents.branch.as_deref() == Some(branch)).then_some((name, contents.version))
+            })
+            .collect_vec();
+        if !referenced_tags.is_empty() {
+            return Err(Error::RefConflict {
+                message: format!(
+                    "Branch {} is referenced by tags {:?}, can not delete",
+                    branch, referenced_tags
+                ),
+            });
+        }
+
         let root_location = self.refs.root()?;
         let branch_file = branch_contents_path(&root_location.path, branch);
         if self.object_store().exists(&branch_file).await? {
diff --git a/rust/lance/src/dataset/tests/dataset_versioning.rs b/rust/lance/src/dataset/tests/dataset_versioning.rs
index 0a65fa01a51..c95e3a6d250 100644
--- a/rust/lance/src/dataset/tests/dataset_versioning.rs
+++ b/rust/lance/src/dataset/tests/dataset_versioning.rs
@@ -843,6 +843,30 @@ async fn test_create_branch_and_shallow_clone_from_other_branch() {
     );
 }
 
+#[tokio::test]
+async fn test_cannot_delete_branch_referenced_by_tag() {
+    let tempdir = TempDir::default();
+    let test_uri = tempdir.path_str();
+    let data = gen_batch()
+        .col("id", array::step::<Int32Type>())
+        .into_reader_rows(RowCount::from(1), BatchCount::from(1));
+    let mut dataset = Dataset::write(data, &test_uri, None).await.unwrap();
+    let branch = dataset
+        .create_branch("dev", /*version=*/ 1, /*store_params=*/ None)
+        .await
+        .unwrap();
+    dataset
+        .tags()
+        .create("keep-dev", ("dev", branch.version().version))
+        .await
+        .unwrap();
+
+    let error = dataset.delete_branch("dev").await.unwrap_err();
+    assert!(matches!(&error, Error::RefConflict { .. }));
+    assert!(error.to_string().contains("keep-dev"));
+    dataset.checkout_version("keep-dev").await.unwrap();
+}
+
 #[tokio::test]
 async fn test_branch() {
     let tempdir = TempDir::default();
@@ -1174,6 +1198,7 @@ async fn test_branch() {
     let cleaned_path = Path::parse(format!("{}/tree/feature", test_uri)).unwrap();
     assert!(!dataset.object_store.exists(&cleaned_path).await.unwrap());
 
+    dataset.tags().delete("tag1").await.unwrap();
     dataset.delete_branch("dev/branch2").await.unwrap();
     dataset.delete_branch("branch1").await.unwrap();