diff --git a/modules/cli/src/main/scala/scala/cli/ScalaCli.scala b/modules/cli/src/main/scala/scala/cli/ScalaCli.scala
index 2f3f3d1085..7115fc19f8 100644
--- a/modules/cli/src/main/scala/scala/cli/ScalaCli.scala
+++ b/modules/cli/src/main/scala/scala/cli/ScalaCli.scala
@@ -234,12 +234,15 @@ object ScalaCli {
               isSipScala = false
               args0.toArray
             else
+              // .ignoreUnrecognized drops '--'
+              val programArgs = args0.dropWhile(_ != "--")
+              val optionArgs  = args0.takeWhile(_ != "--")
               // Parse again to consume --power at any position
-              PowerOptions.parser.ignoreUnrecognized.parse(args0) match {
+              PowerOptions.parser.ignoreUnrecognized.parse(optionArgs) match {
                 case Right((powerOptions, unrecognizedArgs)) =>
                   if powerOptions.power then
                     isSipScala = false
-                  unrecognizedArgs.toArray
+                  (unrecognizedArgs ++ programArgs).toArray
                 case Left(e) =>
                   System.err.println(e.message)
                   sys.exit(1)