Argentina threatens to sue UK over Falkland Islands oil exploration

Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - BUENOS AIRES — Argentina's President Javier Milei threatened on Monday to launch a legal challenge against the United Kingdom over an oil project near the Falkland Islands, the British-administered territory over which Buenos Aires claims sovereignty.

In a social media post, Milei set a two-week deadline for the Sea Lion oilfield project, a joint venture between Israeli and British companies, to be scrapped.

The companies developing the oil field, Israel's Navitas and Britain's Rockhopper, have shrugged off Argentina's threats, insisting they have valid exploration licenses issued by the United Kingdom.

The comments heighten tensions between the UK and Argentina over the sovereignty of the archipelago, known in Argentina as Las Malvinas, more than 40 years after a British military task force ejected Argentine forces which had invaded the territory in 1982.

Britain and Argentina fought a bitter 10-week war in 1982 over the South Atlantic islands, with 255 British troops and 649 Argentines killed during the conflict.

Milei said that if the two-week deadline was not met, he had "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".

He continued to warn the UK that if the "illegitimate exploitation" of the region didn't end within two weeks, Argentina would take the matter before the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea.

The International Tribunal is 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.

The move comes soon after Milei roundly criticised the UN in his speech at the General Assembly for failing to act over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands.

He said the UN had become "a useless organisation" which only serves "arrogant parasites dressed up as well-intentioned bureaucrats".

Since then, the UK Defence Secretary, Wes Streeting, said that Argentina "lacks the ability" to take back the Falklands by force.

Milei had previously said the Sea Lion oilfield was a "clear and present danger".

The Sea Lion oilfield, around 130 miles (209 km) from the Falkland Islands, contains an estimated 1.7 billion barrels of oil.

In a 2013 referendum, residents of the islands voted overwhelmingly to remain a British overseas territory — with 99.8% voting in favor and just 3% voting against.