diff --git a/cmd/soroban-rpc/internal/test/cli_test.go b/cmd/soroban-rpc/internal/test/cli_test.go
index 776749298d..1d50df4d07 100644
--- a/cmd/soroban-rpc/internal/test/cli_test.go
+++ b/cmd/soroban-rpc/internal/test/cli_test.go
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/creachadair/jrpc2"
 	"github.com/creachadair/jrpc2/jhttp"
+	"github.com/google/shlex"
 	"github.com/stellar/go/keypair"
 	"github.com/stellar/go/txnbuild"
 	"github.com/stellar/go/xdr"
@@ -45,14 +46,16 @@ func TestCLIContractDeployAndInvoke(t *testing.T) {
 }
 
 func assertCmd(t *testing.T, cmd string) string {
-	res := runCLICommand(cmd)
+	res := runCLICommand(t, cmd)
 	require.NoError(t, res.Error, res.Cmd.Stderr)
 	return res.Stdout()
 }
 
-func runCLICommand(cmd string) *icmd.Result {
+func runCLICommand(t *testing.T, cmd string) *icmd.Result {
 	args := []string{"run", "-q", "--", "--vv"}
-	args = append(args, strings.Split(cmd, " ")...)
+	parsedArgs, err := shlex.Split(cmd)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	args = append(args, parsedArgs...)
 	c := icmd.Command("cargo", args...)
 	c.Env = append(os.Environ(),
 		fmt.Sprintf("SOROBAN_RPC_URL=http://localhost:%d/", sorobanRPCPort),
diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index 77b21daea7..44ebb67bd5 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ require (
 	github.com/go-gorp/gorp/v3 v3.1.0 // indirect
 	github.com/golang/protobuf v1.5.3 // indirect
 	github.com/google/go-cmp v0.5.9 // indirect
+	github.com/google/shlex v0.0.0-20191202100458-e7afc7fbc510
 	github.com/hashicorp/hcl v1.0.0 // indirect
 	github.com/imdario/mergo v0.3.13 // indirect
 	github.com/inconshreveable/mousetrap v1.1.0 // indirect
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index 15fab6fb87..688250854d 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -81,6 +81,8 @@ github.com/google/go-cmp v0.5.5/go.mod h1:v8dTdLbMG2kIc/vJvl+f65V22dbkXbowE6jgT/
 github.com/google/go-cmp v0.5.9 h1:O2Tfq5qg4qc4AmwVlvv0oLiVAGB7enBSJ2x2DqQFi38=
 github.com/google/go-cmp v0.5.9/go.mod h1:17dUlkBOakJ0+DkrSSNjCkIjxS6bF9zb3elmeNGIjoY=
 github.com/google/go-querystring v0.0.0-20160401233042-9235644dd9e5 h1:oERTZ1buOUYlpmKaqlO5fYmz8cZ1rYu5DieJzF4ZVmU=
+github.com/google/shlex v0.0.0-20191202100458-e7afc7fbc510 h1:El6M4kTTCOh6aBiKaUGG7oYTSPP8MxqL4YI3kZKwcP4=
+github.com/google/shlex v0.0.0-20191202100458-e7afc7fbc510/go.mod h1:pupxD2MaaD3pAXIBCelhxNneeOaAeabZDe5s4K6zSpQ=
 github.com/gorilla/schema v1.1.0 h1:CamqUDOFUBqzrvxuz2vEwo8+SUdwsluFh7IlzJh30LY=
 github.com/hashicorp/hcl v1.0.0 h1:0Anlzjpi4vEasTeNFn2mLJgTSwt0+6sfsiTG8qcWGx4=
 github.com/hashicorp/hcl v1.0.0/go.mod h1:E5yfLk+7swimpb2L/Alb/PJmXilQ/rhwaUYs4T20WEQ=