What happened
Argentina's president, Javier Milei, has given the UK a two-week deadline to stop oil exploration off the coast of the Falkland Islands. The president threatened to take legal action against the British government if the Sea Lion oilfield project is not scrapped. The project is a joint venture between Israeli and British companies, which claim to have valid licenses issued by Britain.
The dispute has heightened tensions between the UK and Argentina over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands, which Argentina refers to as Las Malvinas. The islands have been a British overseas territory since 1982, when a British military task force ejected Argentine forces that had invaded the territory.
President Milei has instructed his Foreign Ministry and legal teams to initiate international arbitration against the UK if the deadline is not met. He has also warned that Argentina will take the matter to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea if the UK does not halt the oil exploration.
The Sea Lion oilfield is estimated to contain 1.7 billion barrels of oil and is located around 130 miles from the Falkland Islands. Two oil companies, Rockhopper Exploration and Navitas Petroleum, are due to begin extracting oil from the field within two years.
