diff --git a/cmake/Modules/Packages/USER-INTEL.cmake b/cmake/Modules/Packages/USER-INTEL.cmake
index 90ab6167a3..ecad135b70 100644
--- a/cmake/Modules/Packages/USER-INTEL.cmake
+++ b/cmake/Modules/Packages/USER-INTEL.cmake
@@ -79,9 +79,11 @@ if(INTEL_ARCH STREQUAL "KNL")
 else()
   if(CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER_ID STREQUAL "Intel")
     include(CheckCXXCompilerFlag)
-    foreach(_FLAG -O2 -fp-model fast=2 -no-prec-div -qoverride-limits -qopt-zmm-usage=high -qno-offload -fno-alias -ansi-alias -restrict)
-      check_cxx_compiler_flag("${_FLAG}" COMPILER_SUPPORTS${_FLAG})
-      if(COMPILER_SUPPORTS${_FLAG})
+    foreach(_FLAG -O2 "-fp-model fast=2" -no-prec-div -qoverride-limits -qopt-zmm-usage=high -qno-offload -fno-alias -ansi-alias -restrict)
+      string(REGEX REPLACE "[ =\"]" "" _FLAGX ${_FLAG})
+      check_cxx_compiler_flag("${_FLAG}" COMPILER_SUPPORTS${_FLAGX})
+      if(COMPILER_SUPPORTS${_FLAGX})
+          separate_arguments(_FLAG UNIX_COMMAND "${_FLAG}")
           target_compile_options(lammps PRIVATE ${_FLAG})
       endif()
     endforeach()