Argentina threatens legal action against UK over Falkland Islands oil exploration

President Javier Milei of Argentina has threatened to take legal action against the United Kingdom if oil exploration continues off the coast of the Falkland Islands. The project, called the Sea Lion oilfield, is a joint venture between Israeli and British companies. Milei set a two-week deadline for the project to be stopped. The companies claim to have valid licenses issued by Britain.

This announcement adds to tensions between the two nations over the Falkland Islands, also known as Las Malvinas in Argentina. The dispute has been ongoing for over 40 years since a British military force removed Argentine forces who had invaded the territory in 1982. Milei stated that if the two-week deadline is not met, his government will initiate international arbitration against the UK over what he calls "the illegal plundering of our resources through the Sea Lion Project".

He further warned the UK that if the "illegitimate exploitation" of the region does not cease within two weeks, Argentina will take the matter to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, an independent judicial body based in Hamburg responsible for the fair application of the United Nations' Convention on the Law of the Sea.

This move follows Milei's recent criticism of the UN at the General Assembly for failing to act on the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands, which he described as a "useless organization" serving "arrogant parasites dressed up as well-intentioned bureaucrats". UK Defence Secretary Wes Streeting has since stated that Argentina "lacks the ability" to seize the Falklands by force.