diff --git a/litellm/llms/anthropic.py b/litellm/llms/anthropic.py
index 20c74fb3d..6f05aa226 100644
--- a/litellm/llms/anthropic.py
+++ b/litellm/llms/anthropic.py
@@ -223,6 +223,9 @@ class AnthropicConfig:
         for m in messages:
             user_message: Optional[ChatCompletionUserMessage] = None
             tool_message_list: List[ChatCompletionToolMessage] = []
+            new_user_content_list: List[
+                Union[ChatCompletionTextObject, ChatCompletionImageObject]
+            ] = []
             ## USER MESSAGE ##
             if m["role"] == "user":
                 ## translate user message
@@ -231,9 +234,6 @@ class AnthropicConfig:
                         role="user", content=m["content"]
                     )
                 elif isinstance(m["content"], list):
-                    new_user_content_list: List[
-                        Union[ChatCompletionTextObject, ChatCompletionImageObject]
-                    ] = []
                     for content in m["content"]:
                         if content["type"] == "text":
                             text_obj = ChatCompletionTextObject(
diff --git a/litellm/tests/test_anthropic_completion.py b/litellm/tests/test_anthropic_completion.py
index 20260556e..b3c4745c9 100644
--- a/litellm/tests/test_anthropic_completion.py
+++ b/litellm/tests/test_anthropic_completion.py
@@ -275,4 +275,4 @@ def test_anthropic_tool_calling_translation():
     print(translated_params["messages"])
 
     assert len(translated_params["messages"]) > 0
-    assert translated_params["messages"][1]["role"] == "user"
+    assert translated_params["messages"][0]["role"] == "user"