Argentina’s Milei vows tougher Falklands oil sanctions, deepening dispute with Britain

Pablo Sanhueza/Reuters

Argentine President Javier Milei has announced plans for tough new sanctions on oil companies working near the Falklands islands, escalating the long running dispute over the British-controlled territory.

In an address late Thursday, Milei reasserted Argentina’s claim to the archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean which the United Kingdom has controlled since 1833 and the two countries fought a war over in the early 1980s.

“The Falkland Islands are Argentinian, historically and legally. There is no debate,” Milei said.

The right-wing libertarian leader ’s comments come after US President Donald Trump suggested Washington could review its long-held position of maintaining strategic ambiguity on the question of sovereignty of the territory, while accepting de facto British rule.

Milei described an oilfield project off the coast the Falklands, involving an Israeli-British firm, as a “concrete and urgent danger” that is advancing towards oil extraction without Argentina’s permission.

“If we fail to act, within a few months, they will possess the physical capacity to take the oil reserves that lie beneath our waters.”

Ricardo Mazalan/AP/File

Milei warned that the project could “create an incentive for the UK to deepen its occupation” and “continue exploiting our resources.”

His plan calls for a law change to allow tougher sanctions that penalize companies providing services to those involved in hydrocarbon exploitation, he added.

He also announced an increase of resources for the building of a naval base in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina’s southernmost territory, which Milei said would strength the country’s geopolitical influence and position it as a key logistics hub.

The two countries went to war over the territory, which Argentina calls the Malvinas, in 1982 after the then-military government in Argentina landed troops on the islands. The conflict claimed the lives of 645 Argentinians and 255 Britons.

The brief war and status of the islands still rankles many Argentinians, and political leaders there are frequently pressured to take up the cause.

The issue came to the fore again in July, when Argentinian football players held up a banner reading “the Malvinas are Argentine” after beating England the football World Cup semi-final.

The US has never backed UK sovereignty claims over the area. When troops from Argentina invaded the Falklands in 1982, Britain fought back on its own and did not see traditional allies like the United States and NATO join the campaign.

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Recent comments from President Trump have cast doubt on the US position on the issue.

In an interview aired on Thursday with British broadcaster GB News, Trump avoided directly answering a question about whether the US would “come to the aid” of Britain in another conflict over the Falklands.

“Well look, I was there when they had the first war. That was a long time ago and I watched it so carefully, and you comported yourselves very well. You took it back pretty strongly, but it’s a long way away. That’s a big trip, it’s a long way,” he said.

He also repeated past complaints that Britain had not provided sufficient support for the US-led bombing campaign against Iran.

“Your country was not there to help me,” Trump said, recalling Britain’s former prime minister, Keir Starmer, telling him the country did not have ships to contribute to the campaign. “It was pretty sad, the whole thing.”

While Britain did not join the US and Israel’s war with Iran, it did allow US planes involved in bombing missions to use UK bases. That decision has proved controversial in Britain where – like in much of Europe - there has been very little public appetite to join another US war in the Middle East.

The Falklands, which raise their own taxes but rely on the UK for defense and foreign policy, are one of 14 British Overseas Territories.

Residents of the islands voted to remain under British rule in a 2013 referendum. More than 99% of voters who cast ballots said yes.

However, Milei said Friday that the population does “not have a legitimate right to self-determination” and that any argument based on a referendum held there “is invalid.”

He also praised Trump for suggesting Washington could reconsider its historically neutral stance on the islands’ sovereignty, casting the potential shift as proof that his close relationship with the US president was yielding results, AP reported.

“The United States is considering this change in position because it knows that Argentina has a reliable partner, aligned with Western values, in a strategically important position that can be a valuable ally in the decades to come,” Milei said.

CNN’s Federico Jofre contributed to this report.

巴勃罗·桑胡埃萨/路透社

阿根廷总统哈维尔·米莱宣布计划对在福克兰群岛附近作业的石油公司实施严厉的新制裁，这加剧了围绕这片英国控制领土的长期争端。

周四晚些时候，米莱发表讲话，重申阿根廷对南大西洋群岛的主权声索。自 1833 年以来，该群岛一直由英国控制，两国在 20 世纪 80 年代初曾为此爆发战争。

“福克兰群岛无论从历史还是法律上来说都是阿根廷的领土，这一点毋庸置疑。”米莱说道。

这位右翼自由主义领袖发表上述言论之前，美国总统唐纳德·特朗普曾暗示，华盛顿可能会重新审视其长期以来在领土主权问题上保持战略模糊的立场，同时接受英国的实际统治。

米莱伊将福克兰群岛海岸附近的一个油田项目描述为“一个具体而紧迫的危险”，该项目涉及一家以色列-英国公司，并且正在未经阿根廷许可的情况下推进石油开采。

“如果我们不采取行动，几个月之内，他们将拥有开采我们水下石油储备的实际能力。”

Ricardo Mazalan/AP/档案照片

米莱警告说，该项目可能会“刺激英国加深其占领”，并“继续掠夺我们的资源”。

他还补充说，他的计划要求修改法律，允许对向参与油气开采的公司提供服务的公司实施更严厉的制裁。

他还宣布将增加资源，用于在阿根廷最南端的火地岛建设海军基地。米莱表示，这将加强阿根廷的地缘政治影响力，并将其定位为重要的物流枢纽。

1982年，阿根廷军政府向马尔维纳斯群岛（阿根廷称之为马尔维纳斯群岛）登陆后，两国因这片领土爆发战争。冲突造成645名阿根廷人和255名英国人丧生。

那场短暂的战争以及这些岛屿的地位至今仍令许多阿根廷人耿耿于怀，那里的政治领导人也经常面临压力，不得不支持这一事业。

这个问题在7月份再次凸显出来，当时阿根廷足球运动员在世界杯半决赛击败英格兰后，举起了一条横幅，上面写着“马尔维纳斯群岛是阿根廷的”。

美国从未支持英国对该地区的主权声索。1982年阿根廷军队入侵福克兰群岛时，英国独自进行抵抗，并未得到美国和北约等传统盟友的支持。

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特朗普总统最近的言论使人们对美国在该问题上的立场产生了怀疑。

在周四播出的英国广播公司 GB News 的一次采访中，特朗普回避了直接回答美国是否会在福克兰群岛的另一场冲突中“援助”英国的问题。

“你看，第一次世界大战的时候我就在现场。那是很久以前的事了，我当时非常仔细地观察着，你们表现得非常好。你们强势反击，但那毕竟是一段漫长的旅程。那是一段很长的路要走，”他说。

他还重申了过去对英国的抱怨，即英国没有为美国领导的针对伊朗的轰炸行动提供足够的支持。

“你们国家没有来帮我，”特朗普说道，他回忆起英国前首相基尔·斯塔默曾告诉他，英国没有船只可以支援他的战役。“整件事都挺令人失望的。”

尽管英国没有加入美国和以色列对伊朗的战争，但它允许参与轰炸任务的美国飞机使用英国的基地。这一决定在英国引发了争议，因为与欧洲大部分地区一样，英国民众对再次卷入美国在中东的战争兴趣寥寥。

福克兰群岛拥有自己的税收，但在国防和外交政策方面依赖英国，是14个英国海外领土之一。

2013年，岛上居民举行全民公投，投票决定继续留在英国统治之下。超过99%的投票者投了赞成票。

然而，米莱周五表示，当地民众“没有合法的自决权”，任何基于当地举行的全民公投的论点“都是无效的”。

据美联社报道，他还赞扬特朗普暗示华盛顿可能会重新考虑其在岛屿主权问题上历来保持的中立立场，并将这种潜在的转变视为他与美国总统的密切关系正在取得成果的证明。

“美国正在考虑改变立场，因为它知道阿根廷拥有一个可靠的伙伴，该伙伴与西方价值观一致，并且处于重要的战略位置，在未来几十年里可以成为一个宝贵的盟友，”米莱说。

CNN的费德里科·霍弗雷对本报道亦有贡献。