diff --git a/backend/open_webui/utils/middleware.py b/backend/open_webui/utils/middleware.py
index 9ebafe44d0..428e35d38f 100644
--- a/backend/open_webui/utils/middleware.py
+++ b/backend/open_webui/utils/middleware.py
@@ -1472,12 +1472,12 @@ async def process_chat_response(
 
                         if reasoning_duration is not None:
                             if raw:
-                                content = f'{content}\n<{block["start_tag"]}>{block["content"]}<{block["end_tag"]}>\n'
+                                content = f'{content}\n{block["start_tag"]}{block["content"]}{block["end_tag"]}\n'
                             else:
                                 content = f'{content}\n<details type="reasoning" done="true" duration="{reasoning_duration}">\n<summary>Thought for {reasoning_duration} seconds</summary>\n{reasoning_display_content}\n</details>\n'
                         else:
                             if raw:
-                                content = f'{content}\n<{block["start_tag"]}>{block["content"]}<{block["end_tag"]}>\n'
+                                content = f'{content}\n{block["start_tag"]}{block["content"]}{block["end_tag"]}\n'
                             else:
                                 content = f'{content}\n<details type="reasoning" done="false">\n<summary>Thinking…</summary>\n{reasoning_display_content}\n</details>\n'
 
@@ -1575,16 +1575,14 @@ async def process_chat_response(
                 if content_blocks[-1]["type"] == "text":
                     for start_tag, end_tag in tags:
 
-                        if start_tag.startswith("<") and end_tag.endswith(">"):
+                        start_tag_pattern = rf"{re.escape(start_tag)}"
+                        if start_tag.startswith("<") and start_tag.endswith(">"):
                             # Match start tag e.g., <tag> or <tag attr="value">
                             # remove both '<' and '>' from start_tag
-                            start_tag = start_tag[1:-1]
-
                             # Match start tag with attributes
-                            start_tag_pattern = rf"<{re.escape(start_tag)}(\s.*?)?>"
-                        else:
-                            # Handle cases where start_tag is just a tag name
-                            start_tag_pattern = rf"{re.escape(start_tag)}"
+                            start_tag_pattern = (
+                                rf"<{re.escape(start_tag[1:-1])}(\s.*?)?>"
+                            )
 
                         match = re.search(start_tag_pattern, content)
                         if match:
@@ -1637,6 +1635,8 @@ async def process_chat_response(
                     start_tag = content_blocks[-1]["start_tag"]
                     end_tag = content_blocks[-1]["end_tag"]
 
+                    print(start_tag, end_tag)
+
                     if end_tag.startswith("<") and end_tag.endswith(">"):
                         # Match end tag e.g., </tag>
                         end_tag_pattern = rf"{re.escape(end_tag)}"
@@ -1714,8 +1714,17 @@ async def process_chat_response(
                                 )
 
                         # Clean processed content
+                        start_tag_pattern = rf"{re.escape(start_tag)}"
+                        if start_tag.startswith("<") and start_tag.endswith(">"):
+                            # Match start tag e.g., <tag> or <tag attr="value">
+                            # remove both '<' and '>' from start_tag
+                            # Match start tag with attributes
+                            start_tag_pattern = (
+                                rf"<{re.escape(start_tag[1:-1])}(\s.*?)?>"
+                            )
+
                         content = re.sub(
-                            rf"<{re.escape(start_tag)}(.*?)>(.|\n)*?<{re.escape(end_tag)}>",
+                            rf"{start_tag_pattern}(.|\n)*?{re.escape(end_tag)}",
                             "",
                             content,
                             flags=re.DOTALL,