Argentina has threatened to take legal action against the UK government unless it stops its oil exploration work off the coast of the Falkland Islands, in another escalation of the row between the two countries, reports BritPanorama.
Posting to social media, Javier Milei set a two-week deadline for the Sea Lion oilfield project, a joint venture between Israeli and British companies, to be scrapped, despite the companies asserting they possess valid licenses issued by Britain.
Mr Milei insisted that if work does not cease by the two-week deadline, he has “instructed the Foreign Ministry and legal teams to initiate international arbitration” against the UK over what he termed “the illegal plundering of our resources through the Sea Lion Project”.
This comes just days after Mr Milei criticized the UN during his speech at the General Assembly for failing to act over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands.
He argued that the United Nations had chosen “to look the other way,” prompting Argentina to “take matters into our own hands” through legal and economic actions, which he described as “a peaceful, practical and effective defence”.
Mr Milei dismissed the wishes of islanders, who voted overwhelmingly to remain a British Overseas Territory, arguing that the principle of self-determination did not apply “since the population was implanted by the occupying power on a territory whose sovereignty is in dispute”.
The Argentinian leader made the Falklands dispute, known as the Malvinas in Argentina, the focal point of his address at the UN General Assembly in New York.
His remarks followed Andy Burnham’s statement that the UK “will stand firm in the face of any threats” to the sovereignty of the Falklands.
The prime minister raised the issue with US President Donald Trump, a close ally of Mr Milei, during their discussions at the UN.
Mr Milei has been emboldened following Mr Trump’s recent suggestion that he could reconsider Washington’s neutral stance on the sovereignty of the islands. The US President also questioned the UK’s capacity to defend the territory due to its domestic issues with immigration and energy.
Although the US maintains a formally neutral position, Washington supported Britain’s military efforts to reclaim the islands after the Argentinian invasion in 1982.
This conflict sparked the Falklands War, resulting in 255 British service deaths within just over 70 days, alongside 655 Argentinian fatalities and three Falkland Islanders.
Earlier this month, the Argentinian government imposed sanctions on individuals and firms involved in oil exploration around the Falklands, announcing plans to file a criminal complaint against oil company Navitas Petroleum regarding its activities near the islands.
Argentina has since introduced a sweeping security bill to enhance its military’s role in guarding the nation’s critical infrastructure and tackle the perceived threats posed by oil exploration.
If the “illegitimate exploitation” of the region does not cease within two weeks, Mr Milei warned, Argentina would escalate the matter to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea — an independent judicial body in Hamburg responsible for enforcing the United Nations’ Convention on the Law of the Sea.
