diff --git a/src/nspawn/nspawn-oci.c b/src/nspawn/nspawn-oci.c
index ba8b142c99..782c03c539 100644
--- a/src/nspawn/nspawn-oci.c
+++ b/src/nspawn/nspawn-oci.c
@@ -172,24 +172,13 @@ static int oci_env(const char *name, JsonVariant *v, JsonDispatchFlags flags, vo
 static int oci_args(const char *name, JsonVariant *v, JsonDispatchFlags flags, void *userdata) {
         _cleanup_strv_free_ char **l = NULL;
         char ***value = userdata;
-        JsonVariant *e;
         int r;
 
         assert(value);
 
-        JSON_VARIANT_ARRAY_FOREACH(e, v) {
-                const char *n;
-
-                if (!json_variant_is_string(e))
-                        return json_log(v, flags, SYNTHETIC_ERRNO(EINVAL),
-                                        "Argument is not a string.");
-
-                assert_se(n = json_variant_string(e));
-
-                r = strv_extend(&l, n);
-                if (r < 0)
-                        return log_oom();
-        }
+        r = json_variant_strv(v, &l);
+        if (r < 0)
+                return json_log(v, flags, r, "Cannot parse arguments as list of strings: %m");
 
         if (strv_isempty(l))
                 return json_log(v, flags, SYNTHETIC_ERRNO(EINVAL),