Argentine President Javier Milei said he would sanction oil companies drilling in the Falkland Islands, the British overseas territory claimed by Argentina, in a move which could escalate tensions with London.
According to Reuters, Milei's comments in a televised national address on Thursday came days after U.S. President Donald Trump said he was reviewing the United States' neutral position on the remote archipelago in the South Atlantic.
The prospect of two oil firms carrying out exploration in the islands, which Argentina calls Las Malvinas, was an urgent threat to Argentine interests, Milei said, 44 years after his country was defeated by Britain in a war over the islands.
Milei said he was sending Congress a bill aimed at strengthening Argentina's response to what he called violations of its sovereignty.
UK issues fiery response to Milei threat
UK defence minister Wes Streeting said on Friday that the people living there had chosen to be British.
He said, “Milei’s statement overnight tells us more about domestic politics in Argentina than it does about the Falkland Islands. Our commitment to the Falklands is absolute and unshakeable."
Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband is the latest senior political figure to give a statement on the Falklands. He said the UK's position on the islands was "unwavering.”
Miliband wrote on X, "The islands are British and will remain so because that is the overwhelming position of the Islanders. Their right of self-determination is paramount, grounded in international law and we will resolutely uphold it."
Milei has previously favoured diplomacy as the best way to pursue Argentina's claim to the Falklands, but in striking a tougher tone he has perhaps been emboldened by his ally Trump's repeated broaching of the issue.
Britain, which has controlled the islands since 1833, has said that Falkland islanders should determine their own future.
