diff --git a/tests/qemu-iotests/meson.build b/tests/qemu-iotests/meson.build
index a162f683ef61b6898e04bc61f8b4cd5c51f4b9c4..9735071a295b1a4eba5cc31c7b949a394e37d392 100644
--- a/tests/qemu-iotests/meson.build
+++ b/tests/qemu-iotests/meson.build
@@ -47,19 +47,20 @@ foreach format, speed: qemu_iotests_formats
   endif
 
   rc = run_command(
-      [qemu_iotests_check_cmd] + args + ['-n'],
+      [python, qemu_iotests_check_cmd] + args + ['-n'],
       check: true,
   )
 
   foreach item: rc.stdout().strip().split()
-      args = ['-tap', '-' + format, item,
+      args = [qemu_iotests_check_cmd,
+              '-tap', '-' + format, item,
               '--source-dir', meson.current_source_dir(),
               '--build-dir', meson.current_build_dir()]
       # Some individual tests take as long as 45 seconds
       # Bump the timeout to 3 minutes for some headroom
       # on slow machines to minimize spurious failures
       test('io-' + format + '-' + item,
-           qemu_iotests_check_cmd,
+           python,
            args: args,
            depends: qemu_iotests_binaries,
            env: qemu_iotests_env,