diff --git a/mlir/lib/Dialect/SCF/IR/SCF.cpp b/mlir/lib/Dialect/SCF/IR/SCF.cpp
index c46a0577c4b96..76467154e869f 100644
--- a/mlir/lib/Dialect/SCF/IR/SCF.cpp
+++ b/mlir/lib/Dialect/SCF/IR/SCF.cpp
@@ -348,6 +348,16 @@ void ForOp::build(OpBuilder &builder, OperationState &result, Value lb,
 }
 
 LogicalResult ForOp::verify() {
+  // Check that the body block has at least the induction variable argument.
+  // This must be checked before verifyRegions() and before any region trait
+  // verifiers (e.g. LoopLikeOpInterface) that call getRegionIterArgs(), to
+  // avoid crashing with an out-of-bounds drop_front on an empty arg list.
+  if (getBody()->getNumArguments() < getNumInductionVars())
+    return emitOpError("expected body to have at least ")
+           << getNumInductionVars()
+           << " argument(s) for the induction variable, but got "
+           << getBody()->getNumArguments();
+
   // Check that the number of init args and op results is the same.
   if (getInitArgs().size() != getNumResults())
     return emitOpError(
@@ -357,6 +367,12 @@ LogicalResult ForOp::verify() {
 }
 
 LogicalResult ForOp::verifyRegions() {
+  // Check that the body block has at least the induction variable argument.
+  if (getBody()->getNumArguments() < getNumInductionVars())
+    return emitOpError("expected body to have at least ")
+           << getNumInductionVars() << " argument(s) for the induction "
+           << "variable, but got " << getBody()->getNumArguments();
+
   // Check that the body defines as single block argument for the induction
   // variable.
   if (getInductionVar().getType() != getLowerBound().getType())
diff --git a/mlir/test/Dialect/SCF/invalid.mlir b/mlir/test/Dialect/SCF/invalid.mlir
index 985e347fbf5ee..e7031b29adf69 100644
--- a/mlir/test/Dialect/SCF/invalid.mlir
+++ b/mlir/test/Dialect/SCF/invalid.mlir
@@ -835,3 +835,18 @@ func.func @invalid_reference(%a: index) {
   }
   return
 }
+
+// -----
+
+// Regression test for https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/issues/159737
+// A scf.for whose body block has no arguments used to crash in
+// getRegionIterArgs() via verifyLoopLikeOpInterface instead of producing a
+// proper diagnostic.
+func.func @for_missing_induction_var(%arg0: index, %arg1: index) {
+  %c1 = arith.constant 1 : index
+  // expected-error@+1 {{expected body to have at least 1 argument(s) for the induction variable, but got 0}}
+  "scf.for"(%arg0, %arg1, %c1) ({
+    "scf.yield"() : () -> ()
+  }) : (index, index, index) -> ()
+  return
+}