Argentine leader says oil firms working off Falklands face sanctions
Javier Milei reiterates his country's claim on the British overseas territory, saying the "winds of change" favour it.
Argentine leader says oil firms working off Falklands face sanctions
Argentina’s President Javier Milei has said he will impose sanctions on oil companies operating off the Falklands, as he restated his country’s claim to the British overseas territory in the south-west Atlantic Ocean.
In a national address, Milei said the “winds of change” were in Argentina’s favour in its claim to the Falklands, citing Washington’s willingness to reconsider its neutrality in the dispute.
Milei described the Sea Lion oilfield, where a British and an Israeli company are set to start exploration work, as a “clear and present danger”.
More than 40 years after the armed conflict over the territory, sovereignty over the archipelago remains fiercely contested between Britain and Argentina.
It reiterated this week that Falkland islanders “are British with a right to determine their own future”.
The Sea Lion oilfield is estimated to hold 1.7 billion barrels of oil, and production is expected to start in 2028.
“If we do not act swiftly in a few months, they will have the material capacity to access the oil that lies underneath our sea – something that has never happened before,” Milei said.
It is still unclear how the sanctions will be applied or how far they will go. In Argentina, existing law already permits restrictions on the activities of oil companies involved in projects deemed unauthorised on the islands.
In a 2013 referendum, island residents voted overwhelmingly to remain a British overseas territory, with 99.8% in favour and only three against.
When asked in an interview with GB News earlier on Thursday whether the US would “come to the UK’s aid” in a possible territorial dispute, Trump said Britain had “not been there to help me” in his country’s war with Iran.
Trump’s latest comments follow his earlier statement that the US could change its neutral stance on the islands’ sovereignty if the UK did not raise defence spending.
Milei also unveiled plans for a naval base in Tierra del Fuego in southern Argentina, saying Trump and the US were “assessing their historical position in regard to the Falklands”, which Argentina calls Las Malvinas.
“That is not empty words as they understand that Argentina is a reliable partner and a valuable ally for decades to come,” he said.
“There are winds of change in the world that are favourable to our claim,” Milei added.
“I want to be quite clear with everybody. The Falklands are Argentinean. Historically and legally,” Milei said.
Hours before Milei’s speech, Sarah Rogers, a senior official in the US state department, posted a photo of herself with Milei with the caption: “Exciting things are happening in the Western Hemisphere.”
Argentine forces landed on the Falklands in 1982 to assert a territorial claim, triggering a 74-day war over the territory after a British military task force drove them out.
The conflict caused the deaths of 255 British military personnel, three islanders and 649 Argentine military personnel.