BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Argentine President Javier Milei escalated his country’s dispute with Britain over the Falkland Islands also known as Islas Malvinas on Thursday, vowing new measures to halt an oil project near the British-controlled archipelago.
The Argentine leader announced sweeping actions aimed at stopping the development of the deep-sea Sea Lion oil project, about 220 kilometers (140 miles) north of the islands, where British company Rockhopper Exploration and Israel’s Navitas Petroleum plan to begin drilling in the coming months and start pumping oil in 2028. Argentina considers the project an illegal exploitation of resources in waters it claims as its own.
He threatened tougher sanctions against companies involved in the offshore drilling and announced new funding for a naval base in Argentina’s southernmost province of Tierra del Fuego to bolster the country’s military presence near the islands, known in Argentina as the Malvinas.
“Argentina will not stand idly by,” Milei said. “Any further advance on the Malvinas Islands will be considered a violation of our national security.”
UK Defense Secretary Wes Streeting said Britain’s commitment to the Falkland Islands was “unshakeable.”
“Milei’s statement overnight tells us more about domestic politics in Argentina than it does about the Falkland Islands,” Streeting wrote on X.
The two-month conflict, which killed 649 Argentine troops, 255 British service members and three islanders, remains a sore point in Argentina over four decades later.
The sovereignty claim is enshrined in Argentina’s constitution and frequently invoked as an expression of national identity, from banknotes to World Cup soccer chants. It is also one of the few causes that cuts across the country’s stark political divides, giving Milei, who is up for reelection next year, a welcome political opening as his approval ratings slip and the economy sputters.
“We can argue about my style. We can disagree over fiscal or exchange-rate policy,” Milei said. “But there are causes that rise above any political difference. The Malvinas is one of them.”
“He wants to use the legitimate sovereignty claim over the Malvinas Islands to regain ground ahead of the election year and serve U.S. interests in its dispute with Britain,” said Nicolás del Caño, a leftist opposition lawmaker.