Sept. 8 (UPI) — Argentina’s far-right government has said it will file a criminal complaint against an Israeli oil company involved in developing an oilfield off the Falkland Islands as tensions over sovereignty of the British Overseas Territory — and the oil around it — climb.
The complaint announced Monday by the Office of Argentine President Javier Milei names several companies, including Navitas Petroleum entities, among those targeted, accusing them of involvement in oil exploration or development under licenses granted by “the illegitimate government of the United Kingdom.”
The filing “constitutes a concrete action to protect natural resources and safeguard the sovereignty of the Argentine Republic” over the Falkland Islands “and the corresponding maritime and insular areas, as they are an integral part of the national territory,” the president’s office said.
“The defense of sovereignty must be exercised through all the legal and institutional tools available to the national government in order to prevent third parties from carrying out activities involving resources belonging to the Argentine Republic.”
Located in the South Atlantic about 300 miles east of Argentina, the Falkland Islands have been under British control since 1833, though Argentina claims sovereignty over the territory. The centuries-old sovereignty dispute has intensified as the Falkland Islands government has signed off on Israeli company Navitas Petroleum’s development of the huge Sea Lion oilfield. The dispute has become more urgent as Sea Lion moves toward production, turning a fight over sovereignty into one about resources and wealth.
Last week, Milei threatened to impose sanctions on the oil companies while claiming sovereignty over the Falkland Islands hours after his friend and ally, U.S. President Donald Trump, suggested to right-wing populist GB News that the United States might not support London in a future Falklands conflict, while criticizing Britain for not backing the United States in its war with Iran.
“The islands are ours, they were taken from us and they are indispensable to Argentina in the coming decades,” he said. “It’s our obligation.”
Rockhopper, the British partner of Navitas Petroleum, which discovered Sea Lion in 2010, responded to Milei late last week by saying its licenses were lawfully granted by the government of the Falkland Islands.
Britain also defended its claim to the territory, with its foreign secretary, Ed Miliband, stating “The U.K.’s position on the Falkland Islands is unwavering.”
“The Islands are British and will remain so because that is the overwhelming position of the islanders,” he said in a statement, referring to the 2013 referendum in which 99.8% voted to remain a British Overseas Territory.
Neither has yet have responded to the announcement. Israel’s far-right, ultra-nationalist Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir said he would urge Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to recognize Argentina’s sovereignty over the Falkland Islands.
“It’s time for the State of Israel to publicly recognize that the Malvinas Islands are Argentine territory under occupation, which the British violently steal from the Argentine people,” he said on X.
“The British are not content with merely occupying the territory; they also carry out oil drilling there and steal the money from the Argentine people.”
Britain and Argentina fought a bloody war over the islands in 1982.
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