Argentina ratchets up Falklands tensions after Trump casts doubt on support for Britain

By Laura Sharman, CNN

(CNN) — Argentine President Javier Milei has announced plans to sanction oil companies working near the Falkland Islands, escalating a long-running dispute with Britain days after President Donald Trump said the US position on the archipelago was “under review”.

In an address late Thursday, Milei reasserted Argentina’s claim to the islands in the South Atlantic Ocean, which the United Kingdom has controlled since 1833 and over which the two countries fought a war in the early 1980s.

“The Falkland Islands are Argentinian, historically and legally. There is no debate,” Milei said, adding that “winds of change” had become more favourable to Argentina’s claim.

The right-wing libertarian leader’s comments came after Trump suggested earlier this week that Washington could review its long-held position of maintaining strategic ambiguity on the question of the territory’s sovereignty, while accepting de facto British rule.

Milei described an oilfield project off the coast of the Falklands, involving Israeli and British firms, as a “concrete and urgent danger” that is advancing towards oil extraction without Argentina’s permission.

“If we fail to act, within a few months, they will possess the physical capacity to take the oil reserves that lie beneath our waters.”

Britain’s foreign minister hit back on Friday, saying the UK’s commitment to the Falkland islands was “unwavering” and the right to self-determination was grounded in international law.

“The Islands are British and will remain so because that is the overwhelming position of the Islanders,” Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said on X.

Milei warned that the oilfield project could “create an incentive for the UK to deepen its occupation” and “continue exploiting our resources.”

His plan calls for a law change to allow tougher sanctions that penalize companies providing services to those involved in hydrocarbon exploitation, he added.

He also announced more resources for the building of a naval base in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina’s southernmost territory, which Milei said would strengthen the country’s geopolitical influence and position it as a key logistics hub.

The two countries went to war over the territory, which Argentina calls the Malvinas, in 1982 after the then military government in Argentina landed troops on the islands. The conflict claimed the lives of 645 Argentinians and 255 Britons.

The brief war and status of the islands still rankles many Argentinians, and political leaders there are frequently pressured to take up the cause.

The issue came to the fore in July, when Argentine football players held up a banner reading “the Malvinas are Argentine” after beating England in the football World Cup semi-final.

The US has never backed UK sovereignty claims over the area. When troops from Argentina invaded the Falklands in 1982, Britain fought back on its own and did not see traditional allies like the United States or NATO join the campaign.

In an interview aired on Thursday with British broadcaster GB News, Trump avoided directly answering a question about whether the US would “come to the aid” of Britain in another conflict over the Falklands.

“Well look, I was there when they had the first war. That was a long time ago and I watched it so carefully, and you comported yourselves very well. You took it back pretty strongly, but it’s a long way away. That’s a big trip, it’s a long way,” he said.

He also repeated past complaints that Britain had not provided sufficient support for the US-led bombing campaign against Iran.

“Your country was not there to help me,” Trump said, recalling Britain’s former prime minister, Keir Starmer, telling him the country did not have ships to contribute to the campaign. “It was pretty sad, the whole thing.”

While Britain did not join the US and Israel’s war with Iran, it did allow US planes involved in bombing missions to use UK bases. That decision has proved controversial in Britain where – like in much of Europe – there has been very little public appetite to join another US war in the Middle East.

The Falklands, which raise their own taxes but rely on the UK for defense and foreign policy, are one of 14 British Overseas Territories.

Residents of the islands voted to remain under British rule in a 2013 referendum. More than 99% of voters who cast ballots said yes.

However, Milei said Friday that the population does “not have a legitimate right to self-determination” and that any argument based on a referendum held there “is invalid.”

He also praised Trump for suggesting Washington could reconsider its historically neutral stance on the islands’ sovereignty, casting the potential shift as proof that his close relationship with the US president was yielding results.

“The United States is considering this change in position because it knows that in Argentina, it has a reliable partner – one aligned with Western values, in a position of strategic importance that can be a valuable ally in the decades to come,” Milei said.

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CNN’s Federico Jofre contributed to this report.