diff --git a/src/run.c b/src/run.c
index 402ae6c2cb..d79cb64530 100644
--- a/src/run.c
+++ b/src/run.c
@@ -37,11 +37,14 @@ enum
   OPTION_NO_SUBREAPER,
   OPTION_NO_NEW_KEYRING,
   OPTION_PRESERVE_FDS,
-  OPTION_NO_PIVOT
+  OPTION_NO_PIVOT,
+  OPTION_KEEP,
 };
 
 static const char *bundle = NULL;
 
+static bool keep = false;
+
 static libcrun_context_t crun_context;
 
 static struct argp_option options[]
@@ -52,6 +55,7 @@ static struct argp_option options[]
           "path to a socket that will receive the ptmx end of the tty", 0 },
         { "preserve-fds", OPTION_PRESERVE_FDS, "N", 0, "pass additional FDs to the container", 0 },
         { "pid-file", OPTION_PID_FILE, "FILE", 0, "where to write the PID of the container", 0 },
+        { "keep", OPTION_KEEP, 0, 0, "do not delete the container after it exits", 0 },
         { "no-subreaper", OPTION_NO_SUBREAPER, 0, 0, "do not create a subreaper process", 0 },
         { "no-new-keyring", OPTION_NO_NEW_KEYRING, 0, 0, "keep the same session key", 0 },
         { "no-pivot", OPTION_NO_PIVOT, 0, 0, "do not use pivot_root", 0 },
@@ -80,6 +84,10 @@ parse_opt (int key, char *arg, struct argp_state *state)
       bundle = crun_context.bundle = argp_mandatory_argument (arg, state);
       break;
 
+    case OPTION_KEEP:
+      keep = true;
+      break;
+
     case OPTION_CONSOLE_SOCKET:
       crun_context.console_socket = argp_mandatory_argument (arg, state);
       break;
@@ -175,5 +183,5 @@ crun_command_run (struct crun_global_arguments *global_args, int argc, char **ar
       crun_context.preserve_fds += crun_context.listen_fds;
     }
 
-  return libcrun_container_run (&crun_context, container, 0, err);
+  return libcrun_container_run (&crun_context, container, keep ? LIBCRUN_RUN_OPTIONS_KEEP : 0, err);
 }
diff --git a/tests/test_start.py b/tests/test_start.py
index a9d8ae68fa..da74820c26 100755
--- a/tests/test_start.py
+++ b/tests/test_start.py
@@ -503,6 +503,43 @@ def test_ioprio():
             run_crun_command(["delete", "-f", cid])
     return 0
 
+def test_run_keep():
+    conf = base_config()
+    conf['process']['args'] = ['/init', 'cat', '/dev/null']
+    add_all_namespaces(conf)
+    try:
+        out, cid = run_and_get_output(conf, command='run')
+    except:
+        sys.stderr.write("failed to create container\n")
+        return -1
+
+    # without --keep, we must be able to recreate the container with the same id
+    try:
+        out, cid = run_and_get_output(conf, command='run', keep=True, id_container=cid)
+    except:
+        sys.stderr.write("failed to create container\n")
+        return -1
+
+    # now it must fail
+    try:
+        try:
+            out, cid = run_and_get_output(conf, command='run', keep=True, id_container=cid)
+            sys.stderr.write("run --keep succeeded twice\n")
+            return -1
+        except:
+            # expected
+            pass
+
+        try:
+            s = run_crun_command(["state", cid])
+        except:
+            sys.stderr.write("crun state failed on --keep container\n")
+            return -1
+    finally:
+        run_crun_command(["delete", "-f", cid])
+
+    return 0
+
 all_tests = {
     "start" : test_start,
     "start-override-config" : test_start_override_config,
@@ -524,6 +561,7 @@ def test_ioprio():
     "uts-sysctl": test_uts_sysctl,
     "unknown-sysctl": test_unknown_sysctl,
     "ioprio": test_ioprio,
+    "run-keep": test_run_keep,
 }
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
diff --git a/tests/tests_utils.py b/tests/tests_utils.py
index eba61561d6..7c79c924d5 100755
--- a/tests/tests_utils.py
+++ b/tests/tests_utils.py
@@ -208,6 +208,7 @@ def get_crun_path():
     return os.getenv("OCI_RUNTIME") or os.path.join(cwd, "crun")
 
 def run_and_get_output(config, detach=False, preserve_fds=None, pid_file=None,
+                       keep=False,
                        command='run', env=None, use_popen=False, hide_stderr=False, cgroup_manager='cgroupfs',
                        all_dev_null=False, id_container=None, relative_config_path="config.json",
                        chown_rootfs_to=None, callback_prepare_rootfs=None):
@@ -266,12 +267,13 @@ def run_and_get_output(config, detach=False, preserve_fds=None, pid_file=None,
         callback_prepare_rootfs(rootfs)
 
     detach_arg = ['--detach'] if detach else []
+    keep_arg = ['--keep'] if keep else []
     preserve_fds_arg = ['--preserve-fds', str(preserve_fds)] if preserve_fds else []
     pid_file_arg = ['--pid-file', pid_file] if pid_file else []
     relative_config_path = ['--config', relative_config_path] if relative_config_path else []
 
     root = get_tests_root_status()
-    args = [crun, "--cgroup-manager", cgroup_manager, "--root", root, command] + relative_config_path + preserve_fds_arg + detach_arg + pid_file_arg + [id_container]
+    args = [crun, "--cgroup-manager", cgroup_manager, "--root", root, command] + relative_config_path + preserve_fds_arg + detach_arg + keep_arg + pid_file_arg + [id_container]
 
     stderr = subprocess.STDOUT
     if hide_stderr: