diff --git a/kernel/time/posix-timers.c b/kernel/time/posix-timers.c
index caa63e58e3d8..d7f2d91acdac 100644
--- a/kernel/time/posix-timers.c
+++ b/kernel/time/posix-timers.c
@@ -980,18 +980,16 @@ SYSCALL_DEFINE1(timer_delete, timer_t, timer_id)
  */
 static void itimer_delete(struct k_itimer *timer)
 {
-	unsigned long flags;
-
 retry_delete:
-	spin_lock_irqsave(&timer->it_lock, flags);
+	spin_lock_irq(&timer->it_lock);
 
 	if (timer_delete_hook(timer) == TIMER_RETRY) {
-		unlock_timer(timer, flags);
+		spin_unlock_irq(&timer->it_lock);
 		goto retry_delete;
 	}
 	list_del(&timer->list);
 
-	unlock_timer(timer, flags);
+	spin_unlock_irq(&timer->it_lock);
 	release_posix_timer(timer, IT_ID_SET);
 }