diff --git a/lib/ansible/playbook/task.py b/lib/ansible/playbook/task.py
index ebf4bffe6f..d65c31ac47 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/playbook/task.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/playbook/task.py
@@ -186,7 +186,7 @@ class Task(Base, Conditional, Taggable, Become):
         else:
             new_ds['vars'] = dict()
 
-        for (k,v) in ds.iteritems():
+        for (k,v) in iteritems(ds):
             if k in ('action', 'local_action', 'args', 'delegate_to') or k == action or k == 'shell':
                 # we don't want to re-assign these values, which were
                 # determined by the ModuleArgsParser() above