diff --git a/src/levanter/utils/thread_utils.py b/src/levanter/utils/thread_utils.py
index 0b4abcdaf..4ac4e1f1e 100644
--- a/src/levanter/utils/thread_utils.py
+++ b/src/levanter/utils/thread_utils.py
@@ -34,24 +34,41 @@ class AsyncIteratorWrapper(Iterator):
     def __init__(self, async_iter):
         self.async_iter = async_iter
         self.loop = asyncio.new_event_loop()
-        self.executor = ThreadPoolExecutor(max_workers=1)
         self.thread = threading.Thread(target=self._run_loop, daemon=True)
         self.thread.start()
+        self._exhausted = False  # Flag to indicate if the iterator is exhausted
 
     def _run_loop(self):
         asyncio.set_event_loop(self.loop)
         self.loop.run_forever()
 
     def _run_async_task(self, coro):
-        return asyncio.run_coroutine_threadsafe(coro, self.loop).result()
+        if not self.loop.is_running() or not self.thread.is_alive():
+            raise StopIteration  # Loop is not running or thread has been joined
+        try:
+            future = asyncio.run_coroutine_threadsafe(coro, self.loop)
+            return future.result()
+        except (RuntimeError, asyncio.CancelledError):
+            raise StopIteration  # Either the loop was closed or the coroutine was cancelled
 
     def __iter__(self):
         return self
 
     def __next__(self):
+        if self._exhausted:
+            raise StopIteration
         try:
             return self._run_async_task(self.async_iter.__anext__())
         except StopAsyncIteration:
-            self.loop.call_soon_threadsafe(self.loop.stop)
-            self.thread.join()
+            self._exhausted = True  # Mark the iterator as exhausted
+            if self.loop.is_running():
+                self.loop.call_soon_threadsafe(self.loop.stop)
+            self.thread.join()  # Ensure the thread is safely joined
             raise StopIteration
+
+    def close(self):
+        """Close the event loop and thread gracefully."""
+        if self.loop.is_running():
+            self.loop.call_soon_threadsafe(self.loop.stop)
+        self.thread.join()  # Join the thread to ensure the loop is fully stopped
+        self.loop.close()  # Explicitly close the loop to avoid dangling tasks