diff --git a/percona_obs/obs_api.py b/percona_obs/obs_api.py
index 8cc2cecc..39d37245 100644
--- a/percona_obs/obs_api.py
+++ b/percona_obs/obs_api.py
@@ -1966,6 +1966,10 @@ def _remove_release_targets(
 ) -> None:
     """Remove <releasetarget> entries added by _add_release_targets.
 
+    Also drops targets in the ``deleted`` project: OBS rewrites references to
+    a force-deleted project that way, so a leftover target whose release
+    project was since deleted (e.g. a recreated pre-release) would make
+    ``osc release`` fail with "no permission to write in project deleted".
     Safe to call when no releasetargets are present (no-op).
     Never raises — errors are printed as warnings so the caller's
     finally-block does not mask the primary exception.
@@ -1979,7 +1983,7 @@ def _remove_release_targets(
         removed = 0
         for repo_elem in root.findall("repository"):
             for rt in repo_elem.findall("releasetarget"):
-                if rt.get("project") == release_obs_project:
+                if rt.get("project") in (release_obs_project, "deleted"):
                     repo_elem.remove(rt)
                     removed += 1
 
diff --git a/tests/test_obs_api_markers.py b/tests/test_obs_api_markers.py
index 5a13c574..b8699a4e 100644
--- a/tests/test_obs_api_markers.py
+++ b/tests/test_obs_api_markers.py
@@ -130,3 +130,27 @@ def test_single_marker_is_appended_last(monkeypatch):
     desc = ET.fromstring(pushed["meta"]).findtext("description")
     assert desc.splitlines()[-1] == "release_id: 17.11-2"
     assert "source_commit: old" in desc
+
+
+def test_remove_release_targets_drops_deleted_project_targets(monkeypatch):
+    """OBS rewrites targets of a force-deleted project to project="deleted";
+    those can never be released into and are removed with ours."""
+    meta = (
+        '<project name="S"><title>t</title><description/>'
+        '<repository name="r">'
+        '<releasetarget project="deleted" repository="deleted" trigger="manual"/>'
+        '<releasetarget project="PR:rel" repository="r" trigger="manual"/>'
+        '<releasetarget project="other" repository="r" trigger="manual"/>'
+        "</repository></project>"
+    )
+    pushed = {}
+    monkeypatch.setattr(obs_api.osc.core, "show_project_meta", lambda a, p: meta)
+    monkeypatch.setattr(
+        obs_api,
+        "_edit_project_meta",
+        lambda a, p, meta, force: pushed.setdefault("meta", meta) and False,
+    )
+    obs_api._remove_release_targets("http://obs", "S", "PR:rel")
+    assert 'project="deleted"' not in pushed["meta"]
+    assert 'project="PR:rel"' not in pushed["meta"]
+    assert 'project="other"' in pushed["meta"]