diff --git a/crates/circuit/src/dag_circuit.rs b/crates/circuit/src/dag_circuit.rs
index a0c06be401b8..99e966eb68d7 100644
--- a/crates/circuit/src/dag_circuit.rs
+++ b/crates/circuit/src/dag_circuit.rs
@@ -1554,14 +1554,17 @@ impl DAGCircuit {
                     .map(|s| s.extract())
                     .collect::<PyResult<HashSet<String>>>()?;
                 for wire in wires {
-                    let nodes_found = self.nodes_on_wire(wire, true).into_iter().any(|node| {
-                        let weight = self.dag.node_weight(node).unwrap();
-                        if let NodeType::Operation(packed) = weight {
-                            !ignore_set.contains(packed.op.name())
-                        } else {
-                            false
-                        }
-                    });
+                    let nodes_found = self
+                        .nodes_on_wire(wire)
+                        .filter(|node| matches!(self.dag[*node], NodeType::Operation(_)))
+                        .any(|node| {
+                            let weight = self.dag.node_weight(node).unwrap();
+                            if let NodeType::Operation(packed) = weight {
+                                !ignore_set.contains(packed.op.name())
+                            } else {
+                                false
+                            }
+                        });
 
                     if !nodes_found {
                         result.push(match wire {
@@ -4167,8 +4170,8 @@ impl DAGCircuit {
         })?;
 
         let nodes = self
-            .nodes_on_wire(wire, only_ops)
-            .into_iter()
+            .nodes_on_wire(wire)
+            .filter(|node| !only_ops || matches!(self.dag[*node], NodeType::Operation(_)))
             .map(|n| self.get_node(py, n))
             .collect::<PyResult<Vec<_>>>()?;
         Ok(PyTuple::new(py, nodes)?.into_any().try_iter()?.unbind())
@@ -6238,33 +6241,20 @@ impl DAGCircuit {
         self.global_phase = Param::Float(angle.rem_euclid(::std::f64::consts::TAU));
     }
 
-    /// Get the nodes on the given wire.
+    /// Get the nodes on a given wire as a non-allocating iterator
     ///
-    /// Note: result is empty if the wire is not in the DAG.
-    pub fn nodes_on_wire(&self, wire: Wire, only_ops: bool) -> Vec<NodeIndex> {
-        let mut nodes = Vec::new();
-        let mut current_node = match wire {
-            Wire::Qubit(qubit) => self.qubit_io_map.get(qubit.index()).map(|x| x[0]),
-            Wire::Clbit(clbit) => self.clbit_io_map.get(clbit.index()).map(|x| x[0]),
-            Wire::Var(var) => self.var_io_map.get(var.index()).map(|x| x[0]),
+    /// This will panic if the wire is not in the circuit
+    pub fn nodes_on_wire(&self, wire: Wire) -> impl Iterator<Item = NodeIndex> {
+        let start_node = match wire {
+            Wire::Qubit(qubit) => self.qubit_io_map[qubit.index()][0],
+            Wire::Clbit(clbit) => self.clbit_io_map[clbit.index()][0],
+            Wire::Var(var) => self.var_io_map[var.index()][0],
         };
-
-        while let Some(node) = current_node {
-            if only_ops {
-                let node_weight = self.dag.node_weight(node).unwrap();
-                if let NodeType::Operation(_) = node_weight {
-                    nodes.push(node);
-                }
-            } else {
-                nodes.push(node);
-            }
-
-            let edges = self.dag.edges_directed(node, Outgoing);
-            current_node = edges
-                .into_iter()
-                .find_map(|edge| (*edge.weight() == wire).then_some(edge.target()));
+        NodesOnWireIter {
+            dag: self,
+            wire,
+            next_node: Some(start_node),
         }
-        nodes
     }
 
     fn remove_idle_wire(&mut self, wire: Wire) {
@@ -8117,6 +8107,40 @@ impl DAGCircuit {
     }
 }
 
+struct NodesOnWireIter<'a> {
+    dag: &'a DAGCircuit,
+    wire: Wire,
+    next_node: Option<NodeIndex>,
+}
+
+impl<'a> Iterator for NodesOnWireIter<'a> {
+    type Item = NodeIndex;
+
+    fn size_hint(&self) -> (usize, Option<usize>) {
+        // If the wire is empty there are the input and output nodes which is the minimum
+        // If the dag is all on a single wire we would have all the operations + the 2 io
+        // nodes.
+        (2, Some(self.dag.num_ops() + 2))
+    }
+
+    fn next(&mut self) -> Option<Self::Item> {
+        let out_node = self.next_node?;
+        self.next_node = self
+            .dag
+            .dag
+            .edges_directed(out_node, Outgoing)
+            .filter_map(|e: EdgeReference<'a, Wire>| {
+                if e.weight() == &self.wire {
+                    Some(e.target())
+                } else {
+                    None
+                }
+            })
+            .next();
+        Some(out_node)
+    }
+}
+
 pub struct DAGCircuitBuilder {
     dag: DAGCircuit,
     last_clbits: Vec<Option<NodeIndex>>,
diff --git a/crates/transpiler/src/passes/commutation_analysis.rs b/crates/transpiler/src/passes/commutation_analysis.rs
index beb0d7818869..8c87bb616e7d 100644
--- a/crates/transpiler/src/passes/commutation_analysis.rs
+++ b/crates/transpiler/src/passes/commutation_analysis.rs
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ pub fn analyze_commutations(
     for qubit in 0..dag.num_qubits() {
         let wire = Wire::Qubit(Qubit(qubit as u32));
 
-        for current_gate_idx in dag.nodes_on_wire(wire, false) {
+        for current_gate_idx in dag.nodes_on_wire(wire) {
             // get the commutation set associated with the current wire, or create a new
             // index set containing the current gate
             let commutation_entry = commutation_set