diff --git a/agent/chat_completion_helpers.py b/agent/chat_completion_helpers.py
index 9a4bc8a1fe6c..2204c44f925a 100644
--- a/agent/chat_completion_helpers.py
+++ b/agent/chat_completion_helpers.py
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ from typing import Any, Dict, Optional
 from hermes_cli.timeouts import get_provider_request_timeout, get_provider_stale_timeout
 from hermes_constants import PARTIAL_STREAM_STUB_ID, FINISH_REASON_LENGTH
 from agent.error_classifier import FailoverReason
+from agent.errors import EmptyStreamError
 from agent.gemini_native_adapter import is_native_gemini_base_url
 from agent.model_metadata import is_local_endpoint
 from agent.message_sanitization import (
@@ -2533,7 +2534,7 @@ def interruptible_streaming_api_call(agent, api_kwargs: dict, *, on_first_delta=
             and not reasoning_parts
             and not tool_calls_acc
         ):
-            raise RuntimeError(
+            raise EmptyStreamError(
                 "Provider returned an empty stream with no finish_reason "
                 "(possible upstream error or malformed SSE response)."
             )
@@ -2756,6 +2757,7 @@ def interruptible_streaming_api_call(agent, api_kwargs: dict, *, on_first_delta=
                         e, (_httpx.ConnectError, _httpx.RemoteProtocolError, ConnectionError)
                     )
                     _is_stream_parse_err = agent._is_provider_stream_parse_error(e)
+                    _is_empty_stream = isinstance(e, EmptyStreamError)
 
                     # If the stream died AFTER some tokens were delivered:
                     # normally we don't retry (the user already saw text,
@@ -2898,7 +2900,13 @@ def interruptible_streaming_api_call(agent, api_kwargs: dict, *, on_first_delta=
                                 for phrase in _SSE_CONN_PHRASES
                             )
 
-                    if _is_timeout or _is_conn_err or _is_sse_conn_err or _is_stream_parse_err:
+                    if (
+                        _is_timeout
+                        or _is_conn_err
+                        or _is_sse_conn_err
+                        or _is_stream_parse_err
+                        or _is_empty_stream
+                    ):
                         # Transient network / timeout error. Retry the
                         # streaming request with a fresh connection first.
                         if _stream_attempt < _max_stream_retries:
diff --git a/agent/errors.py b/agent/errors.py
index abedd83d29ff..89afcd3b4c8a 100644
--- a/agent/errors.py
+++ b/agent/errors.py
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
 class SSLConfigurationError(Exception):
     """Raised when SSL/TLS certificate bundle configuration fails."""
     pass
+
+
+class EmptyStreamError(RuntimeError):
+    """Raised when a provider closes a stream without yielding a response."""
+
+    pass
diff --git a/tests/run_agent/test_streaming.py b/tests/run_agent/test_streaming.py
index 7ccafff665a4..f91a5aaa844d 100644
--- a/tests/run_agent/test_streaming.py
+++ b/tests/run_agent/test_streaming.py
@@ -771,6 +771,34 @@ class TestStreamingFallback:
         assert mock_client.chat.completions.create.call_count == 3
         assert mock_close.call_count >= 1
 
+    @patch("run_agent.AIAgent._create_request_openai_client")
+    @patch("run_agent.AIAgent._close_request_openai_client")
+    def test_zero_chunk_stream_retried_as_transient(self, mock_close, mock_create):
+        """A stream that yields no chunks gets the same retry budget as a drop."""
+        from agent.errors import EmptyStreamError
+        from run_agent import AIAgent
+
+        mock_client = MagicMock()
+        mock_client.chat.completions.create.return_value = iter(())
+        mock_create.return_value = mock_client
+
+        agent = AIAgent(
+            api_key="test-key",
+            base_url="https://openrouter.ai/api/v1",
+            model="test/model",
+            quiet_mode=True,
+            skip_context_files=True,
+            skip_memory=True,
+        )
+        agent.api_mode = "chat_completions"
+        agent._interrupt_requested = False
+
+        with pytest.raises(EmptyStreamError):
+            agent._interruptible_streaming_api_call({})
+
+        assert mock_client.chat.completions.create.call_count == 3
+        assert mock_close.call_count >= 1
+
     @patch("run_agent.AIAgent._create_request_openai_client")
     @patch("run_agent.AIAgent._close_request_openai_client")
     def test_sse_connection_lost_retried_as_transient(self, mock_close, mock_create):