diff --git a/src/mono/mono/mini/aot-runtime.c b/src/mono/mono/mini/aot-runtime.c
index 1d061b8105ff0..5b7857c433477 100644
--- a/src/mono/mono/mini/aot-runtime.c
+++ b/src/mono/mono/mini/aot-runtime.c
@@ -62,6 +62,7 @@
 #include <mono/utils/mono-threads-coop.h>
 #include <mono/utils/bsearch.h>
 #include <mono/utils/mono-tls-inline.h>
+#include <mono/utils/options.h>
 
 #include "mini.h"
 #include "seq-points.h"
@@ -1905,7 +1906,6 @@ load_aot_module (MonoAssemblyLoadContext *alc, MonoAssembly *assembly, gpointer
 	gpointer *globals = NULL;
 	MonoAotFileInfo *info = NULL;
 	int i, version;
-	gboolean do_load_image = TRUE;
 	int align_double, align_int64;
 	guint8 *aot_data = NULL;
 
@@ -2299,7 +2299,7 @@ load_aot_module (MonoAssemblyLoadContext *alc, MonoAssembly *assembly, gpointer
 	 * non-lazily, since we can't handle out-of-date errors later.
 	 * The cached class info also depends on the exact assemblies.
 	 */
-	if (do_load_image) {
+	if (!mono_opt_aot_lazy_assembly_load) {
 		for (i = 0; i < amodule->image_table_len; ++i) {
 			ERROR_DECL (error);
 			load_image (amodule, i, error);
diff --git a/src/mono/mono/mini/driver.c b/src/mono/mono/mini/driver.c
index 8d1e6bc217d21..e68b33bc0350e 100644
--- a/src/mono/mono/mini/driver.c
+++ b/src/mono/mono/mini/driver.c
@@ -1771,11 +1771,23 @@ parse_qualified_method_name (char *method_name)
 void
 mono_jit_parse_options (int argc, char * argv[])
 {
+	ERROR_DECL (error);
 	int i;
 	char *trace_options = NULL;
 	int mini_verbose_level = 0;
 	guint32 opt;
 
+	/* Make a copy since mono_options_parse_options () modifies argv */
+	char **copy_argv = g_new0 (char*, argc);
+	memcpy (copy_argv, argv, sizeof (char*) * argc);
+	argv = copy_argv;
+
+	mono_options_parse_options ((const char**)argv, argc, &argc, error);
+	if (!is_ok (error)) {
+		g_printerr ("%s", mono_error_get_message (error));
+		mono_error_cleanup (error);
+	}
+
 	/*
 	 * Some options have no effect here, since they influence the behavior of
 	 * mono_main ().
@@ -1864,6 +1876,9 @@ mono_jit_parse_options (int argc, char * argv[])
 
 	if (mini_verbose_level)
 		mono_set_verbose_level (mini_verbose_level);
+
+	/* Free the copy */
+	g_free (argv);
 }
 
 static void
diff --git a/src/mono/mono/utils/options-def.h b/src/mono/mono/utils/options-def.h
index 748d095ce3ae2..42d890f3816fe 100644
--- a/src/mono/mono/utils/options-def.h
+++ b/src/mono/mono/utils/options-def.h
@@ -58,6 +58,7 @@ DEFINE_BOOL_READONLY(readonly_flag, "readonly-flag", FALSE, "Example")
 */
 
 DEFINE_BOOL(wasm_exceptions, "wasm-exceptions", FALSE, "Enable codegen for wasm exceptions")
+DEFINE_BOOL(aot_lazy_assembly_load, "aot-lazy-assembly-load", FALSE, "Load assemblies referenced by AOT images lazily")
 
 /* Cleanup */
 #undef DEFINE_OPTION_FULL
diff --git a/src/mono/mono/utils/options.c b/src/mono/mono/utils/options.c
index f8c4e82e37ed7..044ab3cbdf47c 100644
--- a/src/mono/mono/utils/options.c
+++ b/src/mono/mono/utils/options.c
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ mono_options_print_usage (void)
 }
 
 /*
- * mono_optiond_parse_options:
+ * mono_options_parse_options:
  *
  *   Set options based on the command line arguments in ARGV/ARGC.
  * Remove processed arguments from ARGV and set *OUT_ARGC to the