diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 9cbf5399..3093ea84 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -3814,6 +3814,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "serde_json",
  "serde_json_path",
  "serde_yaml",
+ "shlex",
  "subfeature",
  "tar",
  "terminal-link",
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 66680020..85b4a986 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -55,6 +55,7 @@ serde-sarif = "0.8.0"
 serde_json = "1.0.145"
 serde_json_path = "0.7.2"
 serde_yaml = "0.9.34"
+shlex = "1.3.0"
 subfeature = { path = "crates/subfeature", version = "0.0.3" }
 tar = "0.4.44"
 terminal-link = "0.1.0"
diff --git a/crates/zizmor/Cargo.toml b/crates/zizmor/Cargo.toml
index 85125ce6..71c4973b 100644
--- a/crates/zizmor/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/zizmor/Cargo.toml
@@ -56,6 +56,7 @@ serde = { workspace = true, features = ["derive"] }
 serde-sarif.workspace = true
 serde_json.workspace = true
 serde_yaml.workspace = true
+shlex.workspace = true
 subfeature.workspace = true
 tar.workspace = true
 terminal-link.workspace = true
diff --git a/crates/zizmor/src/audit/use_trusted_publishing.rs b/crates/zizmor/src/audit/use_trusted_publishing.rs
index cc7e7619..e9bb3487 100644
--- a/crates/zizmor/src/audit/use_trusted_publishing.rs
+++ b/crates/zizmor/src/audit/use_trusted_publishing.rs
@@ -149,40 +149,46 @@ static KNOWN_TRUSTED_PUBLISHING_ACTIONS: LazyLock<Vec<(ActionCoordinate, &[&str]
 const BASH_COMMAND_QUERY: &str = "(command name: (_) argument: (_)+) @cmd";
 const PWSH_COMMAND_QUERY: &str = "(command command_name: (_) command_elements: (_)+) @cmd";
 
-const NON_TP_COMMAND_PATTERNS: &[&str] = &[
+// Patterns that match commands that publish to package registries.
+// Each member is a tuple of `(pattern, ignore-args)`, where `ignore-args` is a
+// list of arguments that, if present, indicate that the command isn't actually
+// publishing and can therefore be ignored for the purposes of this audit.
+//
+// TODO(ww): Do something better here.
+const NON_TP_COMMAND_PATTERNS: &[(&str, &[&str])] = &[
     // cargo ... publish ...
-    r"(?s)cargo\s+(.+\s+)?publish",
+    (r"(?s)cargo\s+(.+\s+)?publish", &["-n", "--dry-run"]),
     // uv ... publish ...
-    r"(?s)uv\s+(.+\s+)?publish",
+    (r"(?s)uv\s+(.+\s+)?publish", &["--dry-run"]),
     // hatch ... publish ...
-    r"(?s)hatch\s+(.+\s+)?publish",
+    (r"(?s)hatch\s+(.+\s+)?publish", &[]),
     // pdm ... publish ...
-    r"(?s)pdm\s+(.+\s+)?publish",
+    (r"(?s)pdm\s+(.+\s+)?publish", &[]),
     // twine ... upload ...
-    r"(?s)twine\s+(.+\s+)?upload",
+    (r"(?s)twine\s+(.+\s+)?upload", &[]),
     // gem ... push ...
-    r"(?s)gem\s+(.+\s+)?push",
+    (r"(?s)gem\s+(.+\s+)?push", &[]),
     // npm ... publish ...
-    r"(?s)npm\s+(.+\s+)?publish",
+    (r"(?s)npm\s+(.+\s+)?publish", &["--dry-run"]),
     // yarn ... npm publish ...
-    r"(?s)yarn\s+(.+\s+)?npm\s+publish",
+    (r"(?s)yarn\s+(.+\s+)?npm\s+publish", &["--dry-run"]),
     // pnpm ... publish ...
-    r"(?s)pnpm\s+(.+\s+)?publish",
+    (r"(?s)pnpm\s+(.+\s+)?publish", &["--dry-run"]),
     // yarn run publish / yarn publish (lerna/npm workspaces)
-    r"(?s)yarn\s+(?:run\s+)?publish",
+    (r"(?s)yarn\s+(?:run\s+)?publish", &["--dry-run"]),
     // npm run publish
-    r"(?s)npm\s+run\s+publish",
+    (r"(?s)npm\s+run\s+publish", &["--dry-run"]),
     // pnpm run publish
-    r"(?s)pnpm\s+run\s+publish",
+    (r"(?s)pnpm\s+run\s+publish", &["--dry-run"]),
 ];
 
 static NON_TP_COMMAND_PATTERN_SET: LazyLock<RegexSet> =
-    LazyLock::new(|| RegexSet::new(NON_TP_COMMAND_PATTERNS).unwrap());
+    LazyLock::new(|| RegexSet::new(NON_TP_COMMAND_PATTERNS.iter().map(|p| p.0)).unwrap());
 
 static NON_TP_COMMAND_PATTERN_REGEXES: LazyLock<Vec<regex::Regex>> = LazyLock::new(|| {
     NON_TP_COMMAND_PATTERNS
         .iter()
-        .map(|p| regex::Regex::new(p).unwrap())
+        .map(|p| regex::Regex::new(p.0).unwrap())
         .collect()
 });
 
@@ -255,8 +261,21 @@ impl UseTrustedPublishing {
                 let cap_cmd = cap_node.utf8_text(run.as_bytes()).unwrap();
 
                 NON_TP_COMMAND_PATTERN_SET
-                    .is_match(cap_cmd)
-                    .then(|| Subfeature::new(cap_node.start_byte(), cap_cmd))
+                    .matches(cap_cmd)
+                    .iter()
+                    .next()
+                    .and_then(|idx| {
+                        let ignore_flags = NON_TP_COMMAND_PATTERNS.get(idx).unwrap().1;
+                        // Unwrap assumption: we can't match anything above
+                        // that isn't shlex-able.
+                        let mut args = shlex::Shlex::new(cap_cmd);
+
+                        if args.any(|arg| ignore_flags.iter().any(|ign| arg == *ign)) {
+                            None
+                        } else {
+                            Some(Subfeature::new(cap_node.start_byte(), cap_cmd))
+                        }
+                    })
             })
             .cloned()
             .collect())
diff --git a/crates/zizmor/tests/integration/snapshot.rs b/crates/zizmor/tests/integration/snapshot.rs
index eaa70644..6cda2a71 100644
--- a/crates/zizmor/tests/integration/snapshot.rs
+++ b/crates/zizmor/tests/integration/snapshot.rs
@@ -307,12 +307,25 @@ fn use_trusted_publishing() -> Result<()> {
     );
 
     // No use-trusted-publishing findings expected here.
+    // See: https://github.com/zizmorcore/zizmor/issues/1191
     insta::assert_snapshot!(
         zizmor()
             .input(input_under_test(
                 "use-trusted-publishing/issue-1191-repro.yml"
             ))
-            .run()?
+            .run()?,
+        @"No findings to report. Good job! (2 suppressed)"
+    );
+
+    // No use-trusted-publishing findings expected here.
+    // See: https://github.com/zizmorcore/zizmor/issues/1251
+    insta::assert_snapshot!(
+        zizmor()
+            .input(input_under_test(
+                "use-trusted-publishing/issue-1251-repro.yml"
+            ))
+            .run()?,
+        @"No findings to report. Good job! (1 suppressed)"
     );
 
     Ok(())
diff --git a/crates/zizmor/tests/integration/snapshots/integration__snapshot__use_trusted_publishing-5.snap b/crates/zizmor/tests/integration/snapshots/integration__snapshot__use_trusted_publishing-5.snap
deleted file mode 100644
index 2b1572b1..00000000
--- a/crates/zizmor/tests/integration/snapshots/integration__snapshot__use_trusted_publishing-5.snap
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,5 +0,0 @@
----
-source: crates/zizmor/tests/integration/snapshot.rs
-expression: "zizmor().input(input_under_test(\"use-trusted-publishing/issue-1191-repro.yml\")).run()?"
----
-No findings to report. Good job! (2 suppressed)
diff --git a/crates/zizmor/tests/integration/test-data/use-trusted-publishing/issue-1251-repro.yml b/crates/zizmor/tests/integration/test-data/use-trusted-publishing/issue-1251-repro.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..69fb1d23
--- /dev/null
+++ b/crates/zizmor/tests/integration/test-data/use-trusted-publishing/issue-1251-repro.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+# repro for https://github.com/zizmorcore/zizmor/issues/1251
+name: issue 1251 repro
+
+on:
+  workflow_call:
+
+jobs:
+  issue-1251-repro:
+    name: issue-1251-repro
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    permissions: {}
+    steps:
+      - name: not-vulnerable
+        run: |
+          cargo publish --dry-run --locked --no-default-features --features "${CRATE_FEATURES}"