diff --git a/.github/workflows/pytest.yaml b/.github/workflows/pytest.yaml
index 091afc9..98a7174 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/pytest.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/pytest.yaml
@@ -34,6 +34,8 @@ jobs:
         run: |
           sudo apt update
           sudo apt install -y python3-pytest golang
+      - name: Install cross build dependencies
+        run: sudo apt install -y qemu-user-static
 
       - name: Run integration tests via pytest
         run: |
diff --git a/Containerfile b/Containerfile
index f54639f..65362f2 100644
--- a/Containerfile
+++ b/Containerfile
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@ RUN CGO_ENABLED=0 go build -tags "containers_image_openpgp exclude_graphdriver_b
 
 FROM registry.fedoraproject.org/fedora:41
 
+# podman mount needs this
+RUN mkdir -p /etc/containers/networks
 # Fast-track osbuild so we don't depend on the "slow" Fedora release process to implement new features in bib
 RUN dnf install -y dnf-plugins-core \
     && dnf copr enable -y @osbuild/osbuild \
diff --git a/test/test_container.py b/test/test_container.py
index 2c09c80..8e80255 100644
--- a/test/test_container.py
+++ b/test/test_container.py
@@ -96,3 +96,29 @@ def test_container_with_progress(tmp_path, build_fake_container, progress, needl
     ], text=True)
     assert needle in output
     assert forbidden not in output
+
+
+# only test a subset here to avoid overly long runtimes
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("arch", ["aarch64", "ppc64le", "riscv64", "s390x"])
+def test_container_cross_build(tmp_path, build_container, arch):
+    # this is only here to speed up builds by sharing downloaded stuff
+    # when this is run locally (we could cache via GH action though)
+    os.makedirs("/var/cache/image-builder/store", exist_ok=True)
+    output_dir = tmp_path / "output"
+    output_dir.mkdir()
+    subprocess.check_call([
+        "podman", "run",
+        "--privileged",
+        "-v", "/var/lib/containers/storage:/var/lib/containers/storage",
+        "-v", "/var/cache/image-builder/store:/var/cache/image-builder/store",
+        "-v", f"{output_dir}:/output",
+        build_container,
+        "build",
+        "--progress=verbose",
+        "--output-dir=/output",
+        "container",
+        "--distro", "fedora-41",
+        # selecting a foreign arch here automatically triggers a cross-build
+        f"--arch={arch}",
+    ], text=True)
+    assert os.path.exists(output_dir / f"fedora-41-container-{arch}.tar")