diff --git a/batch.go b/batch.go
index a54d1d388f..b7bf4110bf 100644
--- a/batch.go
+++ b/batch.go
@@ -1702,6 +1702,8 @@ func (i *batchIter) SetBounds(lower, upper []byte) {
 	i.iter.SetBounds(lower, upper)
 }
 
+func (i *batchIter) SetContext(_ context.Context) {}
+
 type flushableBatchEntry struct {
 	// offset is the byte offset of the record within the batch repr.
 	offset uint32
@@ -2161,6 +2163,8 @@ func (i *flushableBatchIter) SetBounds(lower, upper []byte) {
 	i.upper = upper
 }
 
+func (i *flushableBatchIter) SetContext(_ context.Context) {}
+
 // flushFlushableBatchIter is similar to flushableBatchIter but it keeps track
 // of number of bytes iterated.
 type flushFlushableBatchIter struct {
diff --git a/error_iter.go b/error_iter.go
index de0ed35118..9b23904c9e 100644
--- a/error_iter.go
+++ b/error_iter.go
@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@
 package pebble
 
 import (
+	"context"
+
 	"github.com/cockroachdb/pebble/internal/base"
 	"github.com/cockroachdb/pebble/internal/keyspan"
 )
@@ -68,6 +70,8 @@ func (c *errorIter) String() string {
 
 func (c *errorIter) SetBounds(lower, upper []byte) {}
 
+func (c *errorIter) SetContext(_ context.Context) {}
+
 type errorKeyspanIter struct {
 	err error
 }
diff --git a/external_iterator.go b/external_iterator.go
index 7c70bd240c..3dc1fb1719 100644
--- a/external_iterator.go
+++ b/external_iterator.go
@@ -545,6 +545,8 @@ func (s *simpleLevelIter) SetBounds(lower, upper []byte) {
 	s.resetFilteredIters()
 }
 
+func (s *simpleLevelIter) SetContext(_ context.Context) {}
+
 func (s *simpleLevelIter) String() string {
 	if s.currentIdx < 0 || s.currentIdx >= len(s.filtered) {
 		return "simpleLevelIter: current=<nil>"
diff --git a/get_iter.go b/get_iter.go
index 99c5d7c52c..cbafafd1b6 100644
--- a/get_iter.go
+++ b/get_iter.go
@@ -241,3 +241,5 @@ func (g *getIter) Close() error {
 func (g *getIter) SetBounds(lower, upper []byte) {
 	panic("pebble: SetBounds unimplemented")
 }
+
+func (g *getIter) SetContext(_ context.Context) {}
diff --git a/internal/arenaskl/iterator.go b/internal/arenaskl/iterator.go
index bad49099f6..a41dd7e747 100644
--- a/internal/arenaskl/iterator.go
+++ b/internal/arenaskl/iterator.go
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
 package arenaskl
 
 import (
+	"context"
 	"sync"
 
 	"github.com/cockroachdb/pebble/internal/base"
@@ -238,6 +239,9 @@ func (it *Iterator) SetBounds(lower, upper []byte) {
 	it.upper = upper
 }
 
+// SetContext implements base.InternalIterator.
+func (it *Iterator) SetContext(_ context.Context) {}
+
 func (it *Iterator) decodeKey() {
 	it.key.UserKey = it.list.arena.getBytes(it.nd.keyOffset, it.nd.keySize)
 	it.key.Trailer = it.nd.keyTrailer
diff --git a/internal/base/iterator.go b/internal/base/iterator.go
index 8ab10a6cf1..1b72432f68 100644
--- a/internal/base/iterator.go
+++ b/internal/base/iterator.go
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 package base
 
 import (
+	"context"
 	"fmt"
 	"time"
 )
@@ -204,6 +205,10 @@ type InternalIterator interface {
 	// optimizations.
 	SetBounds(lower, upper []byte)
 
+	// SetContext replaces the context provided at iterator creation, or the
+	// last one provided by SetContext.
+	SetContext(ctx context.Context)
+
 	fmt.Stringer
 }
 
diff --git a/internal/invalidating/iter.go b/internal/invalidating/iter.go
index 48909ec936..e27db5897d 100644
--- a/internal/invalidating/iter.go
+++ b/internal/invalidating/iter.go
@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@
 package invalidating
 
 import (
+	"context"
+
 	"github.com/cockroachdb/pebble/internal/base"
 	"github.com/cockroachdb/pebble/internal/fastrand"
 	"github.com/cockroachdb/pebble/internal/invariants"
@@ -157,6 +159,10 @@ func (i *iter) SetBounds(lower, upper []byte) {
 	i.iter.SetBounds(lower, upper)
 }
 
+func (i *iter) SetContext(ctx context.Context) {
+	i.iter.SetContext(ctx)
+}
+
 func (i *iter) String() string {
 	return i.iter.String()
 }
diff --git a/internal/keyspan/interleaving_iter.go b/internal/keyspan/interleaving_iter.go
index f993803a91..8679dad39c 100644
--- a/internal/keyspan/interleaving_iter.go
+++ b/internal/keyspan/interleaving_iter.go
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 package keyspan
 
 import (
+	"context"
 	"fmt"
 
 	"github.com/cockroachdb/errors"
@@ -1050,6 +1051,11 @@ func (i *InterleavingIter) SetBounds(lower, upper []byte) {
 	i.Invalidate()
 }
 
+// SetContext implements (base.InternalIterator).SetContext.
+func (i *InterleavingIter) SetContext(ctx context.Context) {
+	i.pointIter.SetContext(ctx)
+}
+
 // Invalidate invalidates the interleaving iterator's current position, clearing
 // its state. This prevents optimizations such as reusing the current span on
 // seek.
diff --git a/internal/keyspan/interleaving_iter_test.go b/internal/keyspan/interleaving_iter_test.go
index 564857b30d..116f037614 100644
--- a/internal/keyspan/interleaving_iter_test.go
+++ b/internal/keyspan/interleaving_iter_test.go
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ package keyspan
 
 import (
 	"bytes"
+	"context"
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
 	"sort"
@@ -287,3 +288,4 @@ func (i *pointIterator) String() string { return "test-point-iterator" }
 func (i *pointIterator) SetBounds(lower, upper []byte) {
 	i.lower, i.upper = lower, upper
 }
+func (i *pointIterator) SetContext(_ context.Context) {}
diff --git a/internal/keyspan/internal_iter_shim.go b/internal/keyspan/internal_iter_shim.go
index cf2adc3ff2..bb9e37bdf9 100644
--- a/internal/keyspan/internal_iter_shim.go
+++ b/internal/keyspan/internal_iter_shim.go
@@ -4,7 +4,11 @@
 
 package keyspan
 
-import "github.com/cockroachdb/pebble/internal/base"
+import (
+	"context"
+
+	"github.com/cockroachdb/pebble/internal/base"
+)
 
 // InternalIteratorShim is a temporary iterator type used as a shim between
 // keyspan.MergingIter and base.InternalIterator. It's used temporarily for
@@ -112,6 +116,9 @@ func (i *InternalIteratorShim) Close() error {
 func (i *InternalIteratorShim) SetBounds(lower, upper []byte) {
 }
 
+// SetContext implements (base.InternalIterator).SetContext.
+func (i *InternalIteratorShim) SetContext(_ context.Context) {}
+
 // String implements fmt.Stringer.
 func (i *InternalIteratorShim) String() string {
 	return i.miter.String()
diff --git a/iterator.go b/iterator.go
index 821fa45e4b..831e31512e 100644
--- a/iterator.go
+++ b/iterator.go
@@ -2392,6 +2392,22 @@ func (i *Iterator) SetBounds(lower, upper []byte) {
 	i.invalidate()
 }
 
+// SetContext replaces the context provided at iterator creation, or the last
+// one provided by SetContext. Even though iterators are expected to be
+// short-lived, there are some cases where either (a) iterators are used far
+// from the code that created them, (b) iterators are reused (while being
+// short-lived) for processing different requests. For such scenarios, we
+// allow the caller to replace the context.
+func (i *Iterator) SetContext(ctx context.Context) {
+	i.ctx = ctx
+	i.iter.SetContext(ctx)
+	// If the iterator has an open point iterator that's not currently being
+	// used, propagate the new context to it.
+	if i.pointIter != nil && !i.opts.pointKeys() {
+		i.pointIter.SetContext(i.ctx)
+	}
+}
+
 // Initialization and changing of the bounds must call processBounds.
 // processBounds saves the bounds and computes derived state from those
 // bounds.
diff --git a/iterator_test.go b/iterator_test.go
index 4ce2f811a6..0be563dc71 100644
--- a/iterator_test.go
+++ b/iterator_test.go
@@ -225,6 +225,8 @@ func (f *fakeIter) SetBounds(lower, upper []byte) {
 	f.upper = upper
 }
 
+func (f *fakeIter) SetContext(_ context.Context) {}
+
 // testIterator tests creating a combined iterator from a number of sub-
 // iterators. newFunc is a constructor function. splitFunc returns a random
 // split of the testKeyValuePairs slice such that walking a combined iterator
diff --git a/level_iter.go b/level_iter.go
index ae6b045341..424e71b8b1 100644
--- a/level_iter.go
+++ b/level_iter.go
@@ -1232,6 +1232,13 @@ func (l *levelIter) SetBounds(lower, upper []byte) {
 	l.iter.SetBounds(l.tableOpts.LowerBound, l.tableOpts.UpperBound)
 }
 
+func (l *levelIter) SetContext(ctx context.Context) {
+	l.ctx = ctx
+	// TODO(sumeer): this is losing the ctx = objiotracing.WithLevel(ctx,
+	// manifest.LevelToInt(opts.level)) that happens in table_cache.go.
+	l.iter.SetContext(ctx)
+}
+
 func (l *levelIter) String() string {
 	if l.iterFile != nil {
 		return fmt.Sprintf("%s: fileNum=%s", l.level, l.iter.String())
diff --git a/merging_iter.go b/merging_iter.go
index a07668692a..a4341085c5 100644
--- a/merging_iter.go
+++ b/merging_iter.go
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ package pebble
 
 import (
 	"bytes"
+	"context"
 	"fmt"
 	"runtime/debug"
 	"unsafe"
@@ -1358,6 +1359,12 @@ func (m *mergingIter) SetBounds(lower, upper []byte) {
 	m.heap.clear()
 }
 
+func (m *mergingIter) SetContext(ctx context.Context) {
+	for i := range m.levels {
+		m.levels[i].iter.SetContext(ctx)
+	}
+}
+
 func (m *mergingIter) DebugString() string {
 	var buf bytes.Buffer
 	sep := ""
diff --git a/range_keys.go b/range_keys.go
index 15c3ad7e16..e46b2bedfe 100644
--- a/range_keys.go
+++ b/range_keys.go
@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@
 package pebble
 
 import (
+	"context"
+
 	"github.com/cockroachdb/pebble/internal/base"
 	"github.com/cockroachdb/pebble/internal/invariants"
 	"github.com/cockroachdb/pebble/internal/keyspan"
@@ -693,6 +695,14 @@ func (i *lazyCombinedIter) SetBounds(lower, upper []byte) {
 	i.pointIter.SetBounds(lower, upper)
 }
 
+func (i *lazyCombinedIter) SetContext(ctx context.Context) {
+	if i.combinedIterState.initialized {
+		i.parent.rangeKey.iiter.SetContext(ctx)
+		return
+	}
+	i.pointIter.SetContext(ctx)
+}
+
 func (i *lazyCombinedIter) String() string {
 	if i.combinedIterState.initialized {
 		return i.parent.rangeKey.iiter.String()
diff --git a/scan_internal.go b/scan_internal.go
index d36a6e98c4..653c987d93 100644
--- a/scan_internal.go
+++ b/scan_internal.go
@@ -354,6 +354,10 @@ func (p *pointCollapsingIterator) SetBounds(lower, upper []byte) {
 	p.iter.SetBounds(lower, upper)
 }
 
+func (p *pointCollapsingIterator) SetContext(ctx context.Context) {
+	p.iter.SetContext(ctx)
+}
+
 // String implements the InternalIterator interface.
 func (p *pointCollapsingIterator) String() string {
 	return p.iter.String()
diff --git a/sstable/block.go b/sstable/block.go
index c6345ea00e..9634d2d9d2 100644
--- a/sstable/block.go
+++ b/sstable/block.go
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 package sstable
 
 import (
+	"context"
 	"encoding/binary"
 	"unsafe"
 
@@ -1540,6 +1541,8 @@ func (i *blockIter) SetBounds(lower, upper []byte) {
 	panic("pebble: SetBounds unimplemented")
 }
 
+func (i *blockIter) SetContext(_ context.Context) {}
+
 func (i *blockIter) valid() bool {
 	return i.offset >= 0 && i.offset < i.restarts
 }
diff --git a/sstable/reader_iter_single_lvl.go b/sstable/reader_iter_single_lvl.go
index 8b094cd983..f2ca2154ac 100644
--- a/sstable/reader_iter_single_lvl.go
+++ b/sstable/reader_iter_single_lvl.go
@@ -347,6 +347,10 @@ func (i *singleLevelIterator) SetBounds(lower, upper []byte) {
 	i.blockUpper = nil
 }
 
+func (i *singleLevelIterator) SetContext(ctx context.Context) {
+	i.ctx = ctx
+}
+
 // loadBlock loads the block at the current index position and leaves i.data
 // unpositioned. If unsuccessful, it sets i.err to any error encountered, which
 // may be nil if we have simply exhausted the entire table.
diff --git a/sstable/reader_test.go b/sstable/reader_test.go
index 320ce3b4e9..b5aae3affe 100644
--- a/sstable/reader_test.go
+++ b/sstable/reader_test.go
@@ -172,6 +172,10 @@ func (i *iterAdapter) SetBounds(lower, upper []byte) {
 	i.key = nil
 }
 
+func (i *iterAdapter) SetContext(ctx context.Context) {
+	i.Iterator.SetContext(ctx)
+}
+
 func TestVirtualReader(t *testing.T) {
 	// A faux filenum used to create fake filemetadata for testing.
 	var fileNum int = 1