Argentina issues new deadline to UK over Falkland Islands

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.

Posting to social media, Javier Milei set a two-week deadline for the Sea Lion oilfield project, which is a oint venture between Israeli and British companies, to be scrapped, despite the companies saying they have valid licences issued by Britain.

Mr Milei insisted that if work does not stop by the two week deadline, he has "instructed the Foreign Ministry and legal teams to initiate international arbitration" against the UK over what he called "the illegal plundering of our resources through the Sea Lion Project".

It comes just days after Mr Milei criticised the UN in his speech at the General Assembly for failing to act over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands.

He argued the United Nations had chosen “to look the other way” so Argentina was “going to take matters into our own hands” through legal and economic action, which he described as “a peaceful, practical and effective defence”.

Mr Milei also dismissed the wishes of islanders, who previously voted overwhelmingly to remain as a British Overseas Territory, arguing 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 row over the Falklands, which Argentina calls the Malvinas, the centrepiece of his speech to the UN General Assembly in New York on Wednesday.

His comments come after Andy Burnham said 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 talks at the UN.

The Argentinian leader has been emboldened after Mr Trump recently suggested he could reconsider Washington’s neutral stance on the sovereignty of the islands. The US president also questioned the UK’s ability to defend the territory due to its domestic problems with immigration and energy.

Although the US is formally neutral, Washington provided support for Britain’s campaign to retake the islands after the Argentinian invasion in 1982.

It sparked the Falklands War, which led to 255 British service deaths in just over 70 days. It also led to the deaths of 655 Argentinians and three Falkland Islanders.

Earlier this month, the Argentinian government imposed sanctions on people and firms involved in oil exploration around the Falklands and said it would file a criminal complaint against oil company Navitas Petroleum over its operations around the islands.

It has also introduced a sweeping security bill that would enable tougher action to be taken and expand the military’s role in protecting the country’s critical infrastructure.

If the "illegitimate exploitation" of the region didn't end within two weeks, he warned, Argentina would take the matter before the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea - an independent judicial body based in Hamburg which is responsible for the fair application of the United Nations' Convention on the Law of the Sea.