diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/formula.rb b/Library/Homebrew/formula.rb
index 3ef26943da..bede10e378 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/formula.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/formula.rb
@@ -2005,6 +2005,8 @@ class Formula
   # If called with no parameters, does this with all compatible
   # universal binaries in a {Formula}'s {Keg}.
   #
+  # Raises an error if no universal binaries are found to deuniversalize.
+  #
   # @api public
   sig { params(targets: T.nilable(T.any(Pathname, String))).void }
   def deuniversalize_machos(*targets)
@@ -2014,6 +2016,8 @@ class Formula
       end
     end
 
+    raise "No universal binaries found to deuniversalize" if targets.blank?
+
     targets&.each do |target|
       extract_macho_slice_from(Pathname(target), Hardware::CPU.arch)
     end