diff --git a/pkg/cmd/release/delete-asset/delete_asset_test.go b/pkg/cmd/release/delete-asset/delete_asset_test.go
index f28f493d0..e302ca3d1 100644
--- a/pkg/cmd/release/delete-asset/delete_asset_test.go
+++ b/pkg/cmd/release/delete-asset/delete_asset_test.go
@@ -157,6 +157,7 @@ func Test_deleteAssetRun(t *testing.T) {
 			ios.SetStderrTTY(tt.isTTY)
 
 			fakeHTTP := &httpmock.Registry{}
+			defer fakeHTTP.Verify(t)
 			shared.StubFetchRelease(t, fakeHTTP, "OWNER", "REPO", tt.opts.TagName, `{
 				"tag_name": "v1.2.3",
 				"draft": false,
diff --git a/pkg/cmd/release/download/download_test.go b/pkg/cmd/release/download/download_test.go
index c2260568a..782056314 100644
--- a/pkg/cmd/release/download/download_test.go
+++ b/pkg/cmd/release/download/download_test.go
@@ -516,7 +516,7 @@ func Test_downloadRun_cloberAndSkip(t *testing.T) {
 			tt.opts.IO = ios
 
 			reg := &httpmock.Registry{}
-			// defer reg.Verify(t) // FIXME: intermittetly fails due to StubFetchRelease internals
+			defer reg.Verify(t)
 			shared.StubFetchRelease(t, reg, "OWNER", "REPO", "v1.2.3", `{
 				"assets": [
 					{ "name": "windows-64bit.zip", "size": 34,
diff --git a/pkg/cmd/release/edit/edit.go b/pkg/cmd/release/edit/edit.go
index cac9c0e48..0360911bf 100644
--- a/pkg/cmd/release/edit/edit.go
+++ b/pkg/cmd/release/edit/edit.go
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ type EditOptions struct {
 	Draft              *bool
 	Prerelease         *bool
 	IsLatest           *bool
+	VerifyTag          bool
 }
 
 func NewCmdEdit(f *cmdutil.Factory, runF func(*EditOptions) error) *cobra.Command {
@@ -81,6 +82,7 @@ func NewCmdEdit(f *cmdutil.Factory, runF func(*EditOptions) error) *cobra.Comman
 	cmd.Flags().StringVar(&opts.Target, "target", "", "Target `branch` or full commit SHA (default: main branch)")
 	cmd.Flags().StringVar(&opts.TagName, "tag", "", "The name of the tag")
 	cmd.Flags().StringVarP(&notesFile, "notes-file", "F", "", "Read release notes from `file` (use \"-\" to read from standard input)")
+	cmd.Flags().BoolVar(&opts.VerifyTag, "verify-tag", false, "Abort in case the git tag doesn't already exist in the remote repository")
 
 	_ = cmdutil.RegisterBranchCompletionFlags(f.GitClient, cmd, "target")
 
@@ -110,6 +112,17 @@ func editRun(tag string, opts *EditOptions) error {
 		params["tag_name"] = release.TagName
 	}
 
+	if opts.VerifyTag && opts.TagName != "" {
+		remoteTagPresent, err := remoteTagExists(httpClient, baseRepo, opts.TagName)
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		if !remoteTagPresent {
+			return fmt.Errorf("tag %s doesn't exist in the repo %s, aborting due to --verify-tag flag",
+				opts.TagName, ghrepo.FullName(baseRepo))
+		}
+	}
+
 	editedRelease, err := editRelease(httpClient, baseRepo, release.DatabaseID, params)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
diff --git a/pkg/cmd/release/edit/edit_test.go b/pkg/cmd/release/edit/edit_test.go
index 9c7085b11..180051d12 100644
--- a/pkg/cmd/release/edit/edit_test.go
+++ b/pkg/cmd/release/edit/edit_test.go
@@ -140,6 +140,15 @@ func Test_NewCmdEdit(t *testing.T) {
 				Body:    stringPtr("MY NOTES"),
 			},
 		},
+		{
+			name:  "verify-tag",
+			args:  "v1.2.0 --tag=v1.1.0 --verify-tag",
+			isTTY: false,
+			want: EditOptions{
+				TagName:   "v1.1.0",
+				VerifyTag: true,
+			},
+		},
 	}
 
 	for _, tt := range tests {
@@ -189,6 +198,7 @@ func Test_NewCmdEdit(t *testing.T) {
 			assert.Equal(t, tt.want.Draft, opts.Draft)
 			assert.Equal(t, tt.want.Prerelease, opts.Prerelease)
 			assert.Equal(t, tt.want.IsLatest, opts.IsLatest)
+			assert.Equal(t, tt.want.VerifyTag, opts.VerifyTag)
 		})
 	}
 }
@@ -406,6 +416,21 @@ func Test_editRun(t *testing.T) {
 			wantStdout: "https://github.com/OWNER/REPO/releases/tag/v1.2.3\n",
 			wantStderr: "",
 		},
+		{
+			name:  "error when remote tag does not exist and verify-tag flag is set",
+			isTTY: true,
+			opts: EditOptions{
+				TagName:   "v1.2.4",
+				VerifyTag: true,
+			},
+			httpStubs: func(t *testing.T, reg *httpmock.Registry) {
+				reg.Register(httpmock.GraphQL("RepositoryFindRef"),
+					httpmock.StringResponse(`{"data":{"repository":{"ref": {"id": ""}}}}`))
+			},
+			wantErr:    "tag v1.2.4 doesn't exist in the repo OWNER/REPO, aborting due to --verify-tag flag",
+			wantStdout: "",
+			wantStderr: "",
+		},
 	}
 
 	for _, tt := range tests {
@@ -416,7 +441,7 @@ func Test_editRun(t *testing.T) {
 			ios.SetStderrTTY(tt.isTTY)
 
 			fakeHTTP := &httpmock.Registry{}
-			// defer reg.Verify(t) // FIXME: intermittetly fails due to StubFetchRelease internals
+			defer fakeHTTP.Verify(t)
 			shared.StubFetchRelease(t, fakeHTTP, "OWNER", "REPO", "v1.2.3", `{
 				"id": 12345,
 				"tag_name": "v1.2.3"
diff --git a/pkg/cmd/release/edit/http.go b/pkg/cmd/release/edit/http.go
index 6016ad776..bf310da60 100644
--- a/pkg/cmd/release/edit/http.go
+++ b/pkg/cmd/release/edit/http.go
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/cli/cli/v2/internal/ghinstance"
 	"github.com/cli/cli/v2/internal/ghrepo"
 	"github.com/cli/cli/v2/pkg/cmd/release/shared"
+	"github.com/shurcooL/githubv4"
 )
 
 func editRelease(httpClient *http.Client, repo ghrepo.Interface, releaseID int64, params map[string]interface{}) (*shared.Release, error) {
@@ -48,3 +49,22 @@ func editRelease(httpClient *http.Client, repo ghrepo.Interface, releaseID int64
 	err = json.Unmarshal(b, &newRelease)
 	return &newRelease, err
 }
+
+func remoteTagExists(httpClient *http.Client, repo ghrepo.Interface, tagName string) (bool, error) {
+	gql := api.NewClientFromHTTP(httpClient)
+	qualifiedTagName := fmt.Sprintf("refs/tags/%s", tagName)
+	var query struct {
+		Repository struct {
+			Ref struct {
+				ID string
+			} `graphql:"ref(qualifiedName: $tagName)"`
+		} `graphql:"repository(owner: $owner, name: $name)"`
+	}
+	variables := map[string]interface{}{
+		"owner":   githubv4.String(repo.RepoOwner()),
+		"name":    githubv4.String(repo.RepoName()),
+		"tagName": githubv4.String(qualifiedTagName),
+	}
+	err := gql.Query(repo.RepoHost(), "RepositoryFindRef", &query, variables)
+	return query.Repository.Ref.ID != "", err
+}
diff --git a/pkg/cmd/release/shared/fetch.go b/pkg/cmd/release/shared/fetch.go
index c8182cc83..84a9a369b 100644
--- a/pkg/cmd/release/shared/fetch.go
+++ b/pkg/cmd/release/shared/fetch.go
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import (
 	"net/http"
 	"reflect"
 	"strings"
+	"testing"
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/cli/cli/v2/api"
@@ -224,11 +225,7 @@ func fetchReleasePath(ctx context.Context, httpClient *http.Client, host string,
 	return &release, nil
 }
 
-type testingT interface {
-	Errorf(format string, args ...interface{})
-}
-
-func StubFetchRelease(t testingT, reg *httpmock.Registry, owner, repoName, tagName, responseBody string) {
+func StubFetchRelease(t *testing.T, reg *httpmock.Registry, owner, repoName, tagName, responseBody string) {
 	path := "repos/OWNER/REPO/releases/tags/v1.2.3"
 	if tagName == "" {
 		path = "repos/OWNER/REPO/releases/latest"
@@ -239,10 +236,12 @@ func StubFetchRelease(t testingT, reg *httpmock.Registry, owner, repoName, tagNa
 	if tagName != "" {
 		reg.Register(
 			httpmock.GraphQL(`query RepositoryReleaseByTag\b`),
-			httpmock.GraphQLQuery(`{ "data": { "repository": { "release": null }}}`, func(q string, vars map[string]interface{}) {
-				assert.Equal(t, owner, vars["owner"])
-				assert.Equal(t, repoName, vars["name"])
-				assert.Equal(t, tagName, vars["tagName"])
-			}))
+			httpmock.GraphQLQuery(`{ "data": { "repository": { "release": null }}}`,
+				func(q string, vars map[string]interface{}) {
+					assert.Equal(t, owner, vars["owner"])
+					assert.Equal(t, repoName, vars["name"])
+					assert.Equal(t, tagName, vars["tagName"])
+				}),
+		)
 	}
 }
diff --git a/pkg/cmd/release/view/view_test.go b/pkg/cmd/release/view/view_test.go
index 5d42ba373..c8b837923 100644
--- a/pkg/cmd/release/view/view_test.go
+++ b/pkg/cmd/release/view/view_test.go
@@ -215,6 +215,7 @@ func Test_viewRun(t *testing.T) {
 			ios.SetStderrTTY(tt.isTTY)
 
 			fakeHTTP := &httpmock.Registry{}
+			defer fakeHTTP.Verify(t)
 			shared.StubFetchRelease(t, fakeHTTP, "OWNER", "REPO", tt.opts.TagName, fmt.Sprintf(`{
 				"tag_name": "v1.2.3",
 				"draft": false,