diff --git a/openerp/tools/mail.py b/openerp/tools/mail.py
index 3714df9c56f..934d9c15b15 100644
--- a/openerp/tools/mail.py
+++ b/openerp/tools/mail.py
@@ -52,14 +52,14 @@ class _Cleaner(clean.Cleaner):
 
     def __call__(self, doc):
         # perform quote detection before cleaning and class removal
-        for el in doc.iter():
+        for el in doc.iter(tag=etree.Element):
             self.tag_quote(el)
 
         super(_Cleaner, self).__call__(doc)
 
         # if we keep style attribute, sanitize them
         if not self.style:
-            for el in doc.iter():
+            for el in doc.iter(tag=etree.Element):
                 self.parse_style(el)
 
     def tag_quote(self, el):