[Morthoron]

Originally Posted by jallanite

From Unfinished Tales, Part Four, II The Istari:

And the Grey Messenger [Gandalf] took the Ring [from Cirdan], and kept it ever secret; yet the White Messenger [Saruman] (who was skilled to uncover all secrets) after a time became aware of this gift and begrudged it, and it was the beginning of the hidden ill-will that he bore to the Grey, which afterwards became manifest.

I am aware that Tolkien added this later and may not then have been considering carefully about whether Saruman knew that Gandalf bore the Red Ring when Gandalf was Saruman’s captive.

What you offer is a mistake in editing in unpublished material causing an immense plot hole which obviously was not in the published story. Considering Saruman was making his own rings, he certainly would have taken Narya from Gandalf when he had him completely under his power - had he known a Ring of Power was there. Particularly so if, as the later, unpublished material states he had "ill-will" due to the ring. Saruman gaining Narya at Orthanc could very well spell the doom of the West.

The Return of the King contains, in Appendix B, the following:

Throughout the Third Age the guardianship of the Three Rings was known only to those who possessed them.

This is bolstered in "Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age" in the Silmarillion, where it states:

But the red ring remained hidden until the end, and none save Elrond and Galadriel and Cirdan knew to whom it had been committed.

But this is neither here nor there as, per usual, you missed the point I was trying to make entirely.