diff --git a/litellm/llms/bedrock/base_aws_llm.py b/litellm/llms/bedrock/base_aws_llm.py
index 9591b962ab5..382a2700e6d 100644
--- a/litellm/llms/bedrock/base_aws_llm.py
+++ b/litellm/llms/bedrock/base_aws_llm.py
@@ -1289,7 +1289,7 @@ class BaseAWSLLM(SignsRequestsWithAWS):
         caller's key skips both. ``aws_session_name`` defaults inside this fetcher rather than in
         ``get_credentials`` so the cache key stays stable when the caller does not supply one.
         """
-        if self._is_already_running_as_role(aws_role_name, ssl_verify=ssl_verify):
+        if not aws_session_tags and self._is_already_running_as_role(aws_role_name, ssl_verify=ssl_verify):
             verbose_logger.debug(
                 "Already running as target role %s, using ambient credentials",
                 aws_role_name,
@@ -1409,7 +1409,15 @@ class BaseAWSLLM(SignsRequestsWithAWS):
             sts_response = sts_client.assume_role(**assume_role_params)
         except Exception as e:
             error_str: Final = str(e)
-            if "AccessDenied" in error_str:
+            if "AccessDenied" in error_str and aws_session_tags:
+                verbose_logger.error(
+                    "AssumeRole AccessDenied for %s with aws_session_tags set. Ambient credentials cannot carry "
+                    "session tags, so the role's trust policy must allow sts:AssumeRole and sts:TagSession for "
+                    "the caller, even when the caller is that same role. Re-raising. Error: %s",
+                    aws_role_name,
+                    error_str,
+                )
+            elif "AccessDenied" in error_str:
                 # Only fall back to ambient credentials if we can positively
                 # confirm the caller is already the target role (same account,
                 # partition, and role name).  This avoids silently using the
diff --git a/tests/unit/llms/bedrock/test_base_aws_llm.py b/tests/unit/llms/bedrock/test_base_aws_llm.py
index c220e39f4d1..0d4aa223dea 100644
--- a/tests/unit/llms/bedrock/test_base_aws_llm.py
+++ b/tests/unit/llms/bedrock/test_base_aws_llm.py
@@ -2363,13 +2363,19 @@ _TAGGED_ROLE_ARN = "arn:aws:iam::123456789012:role/TaggedRole"
 class _TagAwareSTSClient:
     """STS stand-in for a trust policy that only admits sessions carrying exactly the expected tags."""
 
-    def __init__(self, expected_tags: tuple = (), access_key: str = "ASIATAGGEDSESSION") -> None:
+    def __init__(
+        self,
+        expected_tags: tuple = (),
+        access_key: str = "ASIATAGGEDSESSION",
+        caller_arn: str = "arn:aws:iam::111111111111:user/litellm-proxy-pod",
+    ) -> None:
         self.expected_tags = expected_tags
         self.access_key = access_key
+        self.caller_arn = caller_arn
         self.assume_role_calls: list = []
 
     def get_caller_identity(self):
-        return {"Arn": "arn:aws:iam::111111111111:user/litellm-proxy-pod"}
+        return {"Arn": self.caller_arn}
 
     def assume_role_with_web_identity(self, **params):
         return {
@@ -2511,6 +2517,57 @@ def test_irsa_same_account_assume_role_sends_session_tags(tmp_path):
     ]
 
 
+def _running_as_tagged_role_env(tmp_path, runtime: str) -> dict:
+    match runtime:
+        case "ecs":
+            return _os_environ_without_aws_keys()
+        case "irsa":
+            return {**_os_environ_without_aws_keys(), **_irsa_env(tmp_path, _TAGGED_ROLE_ARN)}
+        case _:
+            raise AssertionError(runtime)
+
+
+_TAGGED_ROLE_AMBIENT_SESSION_ARN = "arn:aws:sts::123456789012:assumed-role/TaggedRole/ambient-session"
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("runtime", ["ecs", "irsa"])
+def test_get_credentials_assumes_its_own_role_to_apply_session_tags(tmp_path, runtime):
+    sts = _TagAwareSTSClient(expected_tags=_SORTED_SESSION_TAGS, caller_arn=_TAGGED_ROLE_AMBIENT_SESSION_ARN)
+
+    with (
+        patch.dict(os.environ, _running_as_tagged_role_env(tmp_path, runtime), clear=True),
+        patch("boto3.client", return_value=sts),
+    ):
+        credentials = BaseAWSLLM().get_credentials(
+            aws_role_name=_TAGGED_ROLE_ARN,
+            aws_session_name="team-session",
+            aws_session_tags=list(_SESSION_TAGS),
+        )
+
+    assert credentials.access_key == "ASIATAGGEDSESSION"
+    assert sts.assume_role_calls == [
+        {"RoleArn": _TAGGED_ROLE_ARN, "RoleSessionName": "team-session", "Tags": _SORTED_SESSION_TAGS}
+    ]
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("runtime", ["ecs", "irsa"])
+def test_get_credentials_surfaces_a_denied_tagged_self_assume_instead_of_dropping_the_tags(tmp_path, runtime):
+    sts = _TagAwareSTSClient(expected_tags=(), caller_arn=_TAGGED_ROLE_AMBIENT_SESSION_ARN)
+
+    with (
+        patch.dict(os.environ, _running_as_tagged_role_env(tmp_path, runtime), clear=True),
+        patch("boto3.client", return_value=sts),
+        pytest.raises(ClientError, match="sts:TagSession"),
+    ):
+        BaseAWSLLM().get_credentials(
+            aws_role_name=_TAGGED_ROLE_ARN,
+            aws_session_name="team-session",
+            aws_session_tags=list(_SESSION_TAGS),
+        )
+
+    assert [call["Tags"] for call in sts.assume_role_calls] == [_SORTED_SESSION_TAGS]
+
+
 def test_get_credentials_canonicalizes_session_tag_order_for_the_cache():
     """Two deployments listing the same tags in a different order share one STS session."""
     base_aws_llm = BaseAWSLLM()