President Javier Milei has said “winds of change favourable” to Argentina’s claim to the Falkland Islands were “blowing around the world” in a televised address, citing signs that Donald Trump might reconsider the US position on the islands’ sovereignty. The Argentinian president said the UK was facing “multiple crises of a migratory, demographic and economic nature that are unlikely to be resolved. It is clear that they are on a path of decline.
Argentina’s future, however, is flourishing and will prevail.” Earlier on Thursday, Trump was asked by British outlet GB News if he would “come to the UK’s aid” during a potential territorial dispute over the Falkland Islands with Argentina, and hinted that he would not, adding that the UK “weren’t there to help me [with Iran]”. Supporters had expected Milei to use his address to the nation on Thursday night to announce an unprecedented US endorsement of Argentina’s sovereignty claim over the Falkland Islands. Instead, the self-styled libertarian, when asked whether he was reviewing the US position on the islands, repeated the US president’s words, saying: “I always review every position.
That’s just one of many.” The far-right president then portrayed Trump’s response as a “threat” that was “not innocuous”. The US has formally recognised the UK’s de facto administration of the islands but has not taken a formal position on sovereignty. The first reports of a possible revision emerged in April, when an internal Pentagon email reported by raised the prospect of Washington reconsidering its stance as one possible way of punishing Nato allies that declined to join the Iran war.
In Thursday’s interview, Trump said of the UK: “Your country was not there to help me. We didn’t need help, but I did ask Nato, and I asked your former leader [Keir Starmer], ‘why don’t you send a couple of ships?’. He said, ‘We don’t have any’.
It was pretty sad, the whole thing.” Despite the expectations created by Milei and his supporters – the president summoned all his ministers to stand alongside him – the main new elements of the speech were a few decrees announced by the president. One of them is to speed up sanctions “against those participating in oil extraction initiatives”, specifically citing an offshore oil project in the North Falkland Basin led by the Israeli company Navitas alongside its British partner Rockhopper. Milei claimed the project violated a UN call for neither Argentina nor the UK to take unilateral action in the territory.
Despite his “radical” austerity policies, Milei also said he would sign an emergency decree to increase resources for the defence ministry, prioritising the construction of an integrated naval base in Tierra del Fuego. The project to build a base there predates Milei, and construction began in 2022. The UK said earlier this week that its position on the Falklands was “long-standing and unwavering”.
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