diff --git a/fuzzers/FRET/src/systemstate/mutational.rs b/fuzzers/FRET/src/systemstate/mutational.rs
index 56be55c3ef..69f1234616 100644
--- a/fuzzers/FRET/src/systemstate/mutational.rs
+++ b/fuzzers/FRET/src/systemstate/mutational.rs
@@ -88,8 +88,13 @@ pub fn try_force_new_branches(interrupt_ticks : &[u32], fbs: &STGFeedbackState,
             if !(exec_interval.start_capture.0==CaptureEvent::ISRStart) {  // shortcut to skip interrupt handers without node lookup
                 let node_index = fbs.state_abb_hash_index.get(&exec_interval.get_hash_index()).unwrap();
                 if !has_interrupt_handler_non_systick(&fbs.graph, node_index.clone()) {
-                    new_interrupt_times.push((exec_interval.start_tick.saturating_add((exec_interval.end_tick+exec_interval.start_tick)/4)).try_into().expect("ticks > u32"));
-                    new_interrupt_times.append(interrupt_ticks[num+2..].to_vec().as_mut());
+                    let new_time  = exec_interval.start_tick.saturating_add((exec_interval.end_tick+exec_interval.start_tick)/4);
+                    new_interrupt_times.push(new_time.try_into().expect("ticks > u32"));
+                    if (new_time + config.1 as u64) < next as u64 { // the new interrupt is not too close to the next one
+                        new_interrupt_times.extend(interrupt_ticks.iter().skip(num).cloned());
+                    } else {    // the new interrupt is too close to the next one, skip the next one
+                        new_interrupt_times.extend(interrupt_ticks.iter().skip(num+1).cloned());
+                    }
                     new=true;
                     break;
                 }