Argentina announces measures to halt oil project near Falkland Islands

Argentine President Javier Milei escalates his country's long-running dispute with Britain over the Falkland Islands, vowing new measures to halt an offshore oil project near the British-controlled archipelago. Milei pushes the issue further with praises for US President Donald Trump for reconsidering America's historically neutral stance on the islands' sovereignty.

In a nationally televised address, Argentine President Javier Milei announces new funding for a naval base in Argentina's southernmost province of Tierra del Fuego to bolster the country's military presence near the islands, known in Argentina as the Malvinas.

The move is aimed at stopping the development of the Sea Lion oil project, about 220 kilometres north of the Falkland Islands, where British company Rockhopper Exploration and Israel's Navitas Petroleum plan to begin drilling in the coming months and start producing oil in 2028.

Milei says Argentina considers the project an illegal exploitation of resources in waters it claims as its own.

He also threatens tougher sanctions against companies involved in the offshore drilling.

This as part of the ongoing dispute between Argentina and the UK over the sovereignty of the islands.

"Argentina will not stand idly by," Milei says. "Any further advance on the Malvinas Islands will be considered a violation of our national security."

The move is seen as a pivot from a leader who in the past was criticised for warming ties with Britain.

Milei had previously gone on the record praising Margaret Thatcher, the British prime minister who led the country to retake the archipelago in a two-month long conflict in 1982 that killed 649 Argentine troops, 255 British service members and three islanders.

And now, in an attempt to curry favour with the Americans, Milei commends US President Donald Trump for his comments in Washington earlier this week about possibly reviewing the US' position on the islands.

"I always review every position. That's just one of many," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office when asked about the islands' sovereignty.

This time, though, Milei is drawing criticism from opponents for fostering too-close ties with the American president.

The libertarian Argentine leader says America's renewed take on the island's sovereignty is a reflection of Argentina's reliability as partner, whose values align with the West.

Argentina maintains it inherited sovereignty over the islands from its former coloniser, Spain, and Britain has illegally occupied them since 1833.

Britain rejects that claim, citing the islanders' desire to remain a British overseas territory.