diff --git a/containers/debian/base.Dockerfile b/containers/debian/base.Dockerfile
index b4ee8aaefbc5d7b0b781414c9f5ca17c6da51558..b1508f749b6387cc41938fb1c6578262dd01acc2 100644
--- a/containers/debian/base.Dockerfile
+++ b/containers/debian/base.Dockerfile
@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@ ARG BUILD_IMAGE="debian_stable_base"
 
 # Minimal container based on Debian base systems for up-to-date packages. 
 FROM  ${BASE_IMAGE}
+ARG TARGETPLATFORM
+
 LABEL maintainer="Sylvester Joosten <sjoosten@anl.gov>" \
       name="${BUILD_IMAGE}" \
       march="amd64"