diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/core/ilm/DeleteStep.java b/x-pack/plugin/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/core/ilm/DeleteStep.java
index c19f8f3ef7fc5..7c086a52a4ea1 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/core/ilm/DeleteStep.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/core/ilm/DeleteStep.java
@@ -32,4 +32,9 @@ public void performDuringNoSnapshot(IndexMetaData indexMetaData, ClusterState cu
     public boolean indexSurvives() {
         return false;
     }
+
+    @Override
+    public boolean isRetryable() {
+        return true;
+    }
 }
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/ilm/qa/multi-node/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ilm/TimeSeriesLifecycleActionsIT.java b/x-pack/plugin/ilm/qa/multi-node/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ilm/TimeSeriesLifecycleActionsIT.java
index 9b1abed6971f5..f967c3cc4325c 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/ilm/qa/multi-node/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ilm/TimeSeriesLifecycleActionsIT.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/ilm/qa/multi-node/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ilm/TimeSeriesLifecycleActionsIT.java
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.test.rest.ESRestTestCase;
 import org.elasticsearch.xpack.core.ilm.AllocateAction;
 import org.elasticsearch.xpack.core.ilm.DeleteAction;
+import org.elasticsearch.xpack.core.ilm.DeleteStep;
 import org.elasticsearch.xpack.core.ilm.ErrorStep;
 import org.elasticsearch.xpack.core.ilm.ForceMergeAction;
 import org.elasticsearch.xpack.core.ilm.FreezeAction;
@@ -206,6 +207,27 @@ public void testMoveToRolloverStep() throws Exception {
         assertBusy(() -> assertFalse(indexExists(shrunkenOriginalIndex)));
     }
 
+    public void testRetryFailedDeleteAction() throws Exception {
+        createIndexWithSettings(index, Settings.builder()
+            .put(IndexMetaData.SETTING_NUMBER_OF_SHARDS, 1)
+            .put(IndexMetaData.SETTING_NUMBER_OF_REPLICAS, 0)
+            .put(IndexMetaData.SETTING_READ_ONLY_ALLOW_DELETE, false));
+
+        createNewSingletonPolicy("delete", new DeleteAction());
+
+        Request request = new Request("PUT", index + "/_settings");
+        request.setJsonEntity("{\"index.blocks.read_only\": true, \"index.lifecycle.name\": \"" + policy + "\"}");
+        assertOK(client().performRequest(request));
+
+        assertBusy(() -> assertThat(getFailedStepForIndex(index), equalTo(DeleteStep.NAME)));
+        assertTrue(indexExists(index));
+
+        request.setJsonEntity("{\"index.blocks.read_only\":false}");
+        assertOK(client().performRequest(request));
+
+        assertBusy(() -> assertFalse(indexExists(index)));
+    }
+
     public void testRetryFailedShrinkAction() throws Exception {
         int numShards = 4;
         int divisor = randomFrom(2, 4);