diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/uri_httpexception.yml b/changelogs/fragments/uri_httpexception.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..d2b339cf3b8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/uri_httpexception.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+---
+bugfixes:
+  - uri - Handle HTTP exceptions raised while reading the content (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/83794).
diff --git a/lib/ansible/modules/uri.py b/lib/ansible/modules/uri.py
index ab390bc2b93..5ca88127de2 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/modules/uri.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/modules/uri.py
@@ -732,6 +732,8 @@ def main():
             # there was no content, but the error read()
             # may have been stored in the info as 'body'
             content = info.pop('body', b'')
+        except http.client.HTTPException as http_err:
+            module.fail_json(msg=f"HTTP Error while fetching {url}: {to_native(http_err)}")
     elif r:
         content = r
     else: