Argentina announced it had filed a criminal complaint against Israeli company Navitas Petroleum for drilling for oil off the Falkland Islands without permission. Argentina also launched legal action against Canada’s Eco Atlantic, which holds an exploration license near the Sea Lion field, arguing that its activities lack Argentine authorization.
The move escalates Argentina’s historic dispute with the UK over the Falklands. In 1982, Britain fought a 10-week war with Argentina over the South Atlantic islands, a British overseas territory that Argentines call Las Malvinas and claim as an integral part of their territory.
In recent days, the islands have drawn international attention again after U.S. President Donald Trump warned he would review Washington’s neutrality in the dispute. Argentine President Javier Milei welcomed Trump’s threat to Britain and set his sights on stopping the British-Israeli Sea Lion project in the North Malvinas. Milei cited a UN resolution calling on both Britain and Argentina to refrain from unilateral actions in the disputed area until their dispute is resolved.
After Milei said last Thursday that the “winds of change” were blowing in Argentina’s favor on the Falklands, British Defense Secretary Wes Streeting said, “The Falklands are British,” because the islanders chose to remain British in a 2013 vote. The Falklands are located about 373 miles east of Argentina’s southernmost tip and are administered by Britain. The Sea Lion oil project is situated around 137 miles from the Falklands.
Milei’s statement overnight tells us more about domestic politics in Argentina than it does about the Falkland Islands.
The Falklands are British because Falkland Islanders choose to be British.
Our commitment to the Falklands is absolute and unshakeable 🇬🇧 🇫🇰 pic.twitter.com/pi0xd7OhYS
— Wes Streeting (@wesstreeting) September 4, 2026
The dispute is creating an unusual geopolitical triangle between Argentina, Britain, and Israel. Milei, one of Israel’s closest allies in Latin America, is targeting an Israeli-led oil project operating under British-backed Falklands licenses, even as relations between Israel and the UK deteriorate over British restrictions on settlement trade. Calls from within Israel’s government to recognize Argentine sovereignty over the Falklands and sanction Britain add another dimension: a commercial dispute over offshore oil could become entangled with Israel’s broader confrontation with the UK. For Argentina, that creates an opportunity to internationalize a sovereignty dispute traditionally dominated by Buenos Aires and London, potentially drawing new diplomatic actors into its campaign against British control of the islands. (AFP+EIR)
