diff --git a/Lib/test/test_wsgiref.py b/Lib/test/test_wsgiref.py
index 45ca620..123eae8 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_wsgiref.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_wsgiref.py
@@ -591,40 +591,28 @@
                             (stdpat%(version,sw), h.stdout.getvalue())
                         )
 
-# This epilogue is needed for compatibility with the Python 2.5 regrtest module
+    def testCloseOnError(self):
+        side_effects = {'close_called': False}
+        MSG = b"Some output has been sent"
+        def error_app(e,s):
+            s("200 OK",[])(MSG)
+            class CrashyIterable(object):
+                def __iter__(self):
+                    while True:
+                        yield b'blah'
+                        raise AssertionError("This should be caught by handler")
+
+                def close(self):
+                    side_effects['close_called'] = True
+            return CrashyIterable()
+
+        h = ErrorHandler()
+        h.run(error_app)
+        self.assertEqual(side_effects['close_called'], True)
+
 
 def test_main():
     test_support.run_unittest(__name__)
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     test_main()
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-# the above lines intentionally left blank
diff --git a/Lib/wsgiref/handlers.py b/Lib/wsgiref/handlers.py
index ae1e8cc..8cb57e2 100644
--- a/Lib/wsgiref/handlers.py
+++ b/Lib/wsgiref/handlers.py
@@ -122,11 +122,13 @@
         in the event loop to iterate over the data, and to call
         'self.close()' once the response is finished.
         """
-        if not self.result_is_file() or not self.sendfile():
-            for data in self.result:
-                self.write(data)
-            self.finish_content()
-        self.close()
+        try:
+            if not self.result_is_file() or not self.sendfile():
+                for data in self.result:
+                    self.write(data)
+                self.finish_content()
+        finally:
+            self.close()
 
 
     def get_scheme(self):
diff --git a/Misc/ACKS b/Misc/ACKS
index ecd52e0..958951f 100644
--- a/Misc/ACKS
+++ b/Misc/ACKS
@@ -985,6 +985,7 @@
 Laurence Tratt
 John Tromp
 Jason Trowbridge
+Brent Tubbs
 Anthony Tuininga
 David Turner
 Stephen Turner
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index d87b9ed..7e91943 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -122,6 +122,9 @@
 Library
 -------
 
+- Issue #16220: wsgiref now always calls close() on an iterable response.
+  Patch by Brent Tubbs.
+
 - Issue #16176: Properly identify Windows 8 via platform.platform()
 
 - Issue #15756: subprocess.poll() now properly handles errno.ECHILD to