diff --git a/bin/kotlin b/bin/kotlin
index a8b911ec7be..4f03952c5b3 100755
--- a/bin/kotlin
+++ b/bin/kotlin
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ classpath="$classpath:$root/out/production/backend:$root/out/production/frontend
 classpath="$classpath:$root/out/production/stdlib"
 classpath="$classpath:$root/lib/*:$ideaRoot/lib/*:$ideaRoot/lib/rt/*"
 
-exec java \
+exec java $JAVA_OPTS \
     -classpath "$classpath" \
     org.jetbrains.jet.cli.KotlinCompiler \
     "$@"