Argentina's Milei threatens Britain with legal action over Falkland's oilfields

Northern Ireland / 28 September 2026 The days of unionist ‘supremacy’ are gone, says Northern Ireland's First Minister 28 September 2026 Middle East / 28 September 2026 US accuses Iran of failing to negotiate ‘in good faith’ 28 September 2026 Militarism / 28 September 2026 Trump asked China’s President Xi if he wanted to buy US arms 28 September 2026 Europe / 28 September 2026 Swiss reject tighter neutrality rules in referendum 28 September 2026 Climate Crisis / 28 September 2026 Heavy rain and flooding in northern India kills at least 62 28 September 2026 Round-up / 28 September 2026 World in brief: September 28, 2026 28 September 2026 ARGENTINA’S far-right President Javier Milei said on Monday that his government would seek international arbitration against Britain over an oil project off the disputed Falkland Islands.

Mr Milei’s office said that it had given Britain two weeks to halt work on Sea Lion, an offshore oilfield being developed by Israel’s Navitas Petroleum and England’s Rockhopper Exploration. Otherwise, Argentina would ask the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, a Hamburg-based maritime court, to order a temporary halt to the project.

“Argentina will not stand idly by,” the presidential statement said, accusing Britain of causing “irreversible and irreparable” harm.

The tribunal, an independent court established under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, can issue legally binding emergency orders. But even if it ordered Britain to halt the project, it has no means of forcing the government to comply.

Britain rejects Argentina’s sovereignty claim, arguing that the islanders have the right to determine their own future and develop their natural resources.

In a referendum in 2013, residents of the Falklands voted overwhelmingly to remain a British overseas territory. Argentina says the islands were populated illegally.

Argentina’s Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno praised Mr Milei’s move as “a historic and unprecedented step” in Argentina’s nearly two-century campaign to secure sovereignty over the archipelago.

Latin America / 24 September 2026 President Milei renews Argentina’s Malvinas claim at United Nations 24 September 2026 World / 17 September 2026 Argentine judge orders Falklands oil project to stop 17 September 2026 World / 4 September 2026 Falklands tensions sees Miliband accused of ‘selective support’ for international law 4 September 2026 Men’s football / 1 August 2026 Football, Falklands and forgotten history 1 August 2026 Argentina’s World Cup campaign reignited a long-running sovereignty dispute and exposed the contradictions of Javier Milei’s government, writes BERT SCHOUWENBURG