The United States threatened to oppose England’s sovereignty over the Falkland Islands if the English Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, does not increase defense spending.
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According to The Telegraph last Friday, senior Pentagon officials suggested that the British government must move towards a higher level of military investment, in line with President Donald Trump’s pressure for NATO countries to allocate up to 5% of their GDP to defense.
Along the same lines, among the measures analyzed would be a possible modification of the US support for the British position on the Falklands, where Argentina and England fought a war over the sovereignty dispute of the archipelago in 1982.
Although the United States has recognized British administration of the archipelago, Washington’s warning could signify a shift by giving its diplomatic support to Argentina in a dispute in which they have maintained a stance of formal neutrality.
Asked by The Telegraph, US officials said on condition of anonymity that the talks have been “frank” and that “no option is off the table” to encourage allies to increase their military spending.
This is the second time Washington has used the Falklands situation to apply pressure. In April, Reuters reported that among the options evaluated by the United States to sanction NATO allies was the possibility of suspending its support for the United Kingdom in the dispute with Argentina.
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Although neither the President of Argentina, Javier Milei, nor the Argentine Foreign Minister, Pablo Quirno, referred to Washington’s statements, the Foreign Minister did comment on the mooring of a British-flagged oil tanker in the port of Ushuaia.
The minister explained that the vessel was contracted to transport crude produced in the Austral Marine Basin and assured that it has no ties with the British authorities of the Falklands.
Thus, Quirno accused a political and media “operation” around the episode and defended that the ship’s stop in Ushuaia corresponded to a legitimate commercial activity linked to oil operations in Argentine territory.
“The Falklands issue deserves to be defended seriously. Not with political operations that confuse a legitimate commercial activity in Argentine continental territory with an operation linked to the United Kingdom and the illegal occupation of our territory. The defense of our sovereignty also requires distinguishing facts from narrative,” said the Foreign Minister.
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