Argentina Eyes the Falklands Again. This Time, the U.S. May Not Back Britain

Argentine President Javier Milei has launched a new effort to claim control of the Falkland Islands, reigniting a long-standing dispute with the United Kingdom over the archipelago, which once led to war. 

"THE MALVINAS WERE, ARE, AND ALWAYS WILL BE ARGENTINE,” Milei said on X in Spanish on Friday, using the Argentine name for the islands.  

In a separate interview with the Argentine digital channel Neura posted by Milei on Friday, he said that the country was doing “everything humanly possible” to return the Falklands to Argentina. 

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“Sovereignty is non-negotiable, but it must be handled judiciously, with brains,” said Milei, a staunch ally of President Donald Trump. 

The Falkland Islands are a small group of islands some 300 miles east of Argentina, with a population of around 3,600. 

Both Britain and Argentina have historic claims to the islands, and the two countries fought a short but fierce war in 1982 after Argentina tried to seize control of them. Argentina eventually surrendered in June of that year after at least 900 people were killed.  

Milei’s renewed push for Argentine control of the islands comes after it emerged that the United States is considering a review of its support for the U.K.’s historic claim to the islands. 

Relations between the U.S. and the U.K. have been strained since European and NATO allies refused to provide aid to America and Israel’s war with Iran. According to an internal Pentagon email reported by Reuters, the U.S. is considering a review of U.S. diplomatic support for European countries’ "imperial possessions," such as the ⁠Falkland Islands, in response. 

Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s official spokesman said on Friday that the Falklands’ “sovereignty rests with the U.K.” and that “the islanders' right to self-determination is paramount.”

“We've expressed this position previously clearly and consistently to successive U.S. administrations and nothing is going to change that,” he added. 

That position has support across the aisle in Britain. Kemi Badenoch, leader of the opposition Conservative Party, said, “The Falklands are British. Full stop.”

“We fought for them when it mattered most and paid the price,” she continued on X. “And because the islanders have chosen it, clearly and repeatedly.”

The State Department currently recognizes the U.K.’s sovereignty over the islands, but Trump’s relationship with London has soured in recent months. 

Trump wants to punish NATO for its lack of support in the Iran War

The leaked Pentagon memo, prepared by Elbridge Colby, the Pentagon's top policy adviser, cites a “sense of entitlement” among NATO allies that Trump is looking to punish.

Trump has expressed his frustration with NATO allies publicly over their refusal to join the Iran War, warning them of a “very bad” future if they did not help him open the Strait of Hormuz. When Europe called for resistance and declined to send warships to the Strait, he called NATO “useless.”

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Trump’s words prompted a response from Starmer, who said he was “fed up” with people in the U.K. struggling to pay  for gas and energy bills ever since the war sparked a worldwide energy crisis, raising prices across the world.

“Whatever the pressure on me and others, whatever the noise, I'm going to act in the British national interest in all the decisions that I make, and that's why I've been absolutely clear that this is not our war, or we're not going to get dragged into it,” Starmer said during a press briefing on April 1, justifying his decision not to contribute to the attack on Iran

Argentina and the U.K. fought a war over the islands

The competing claims to the island date back hundreds of years, to a period when the British Empire stretched across the world. 

The archipelago, which lies 8,000 miles away from the British Isles, was settled by the British in the mid-18th century. Britain withdrew amid a power struggle with Spain over control of the islands. When Argentina declared independence from Spain in 1816, it claimed sovereignty over the islands and established a small settlement there in the 1820s.

Eventually, the British expelled Argentina from the islands in 1833 and established the Falklands as an official colony. 

Argentina never gave up its claim to the islands, and in 1982, Argentina’s military junta, led by Lieutenant General Leopoldo Galtieri, launched an effort to recapture them.   

Galtieri saw his chance when Argentine scrap metal workers occupied and raised the Argentinian flag at an abandoned whaling station on the British territory of South Georgia, a small island east of the Falklands. When they refused British orders to leave, Argentina sent warships ostensibly to protect the workers. The U.K. sent its own naval vessel in response. 

Believing the U.K. would not respond militarily, and facing an economic crisis and mass protests at home, Galtieri ordered a full-scale invasion to retake the islands on April 2, 1982. 

British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's government then sent its own naval task force to recapture them.

A war ensued between Argentina and the U.K. over control of the Falkland Islands, with the U.S. under President Ronald Reagan backing Britain.

After a 74-day conflict, Argentina eventually surrendered to British forces. Some 900 people died in the war, including 649 Argentines, 255 British troops and three civilian islanders.