Javier Milei proposed this week that Britain hand the Falkland Islands to Argentina the way it handed Hong Kong to China. "The UK did this with Hong Kong, so why not find the agreement so that sooner or later the islands return to Argentina?" Argentina's president told The Economist in an interview published Thursday. "They're ours." Argentines, he added, "do not believe in war."
Milei had warmed up overnight. In a television address late Wednesday, he promised his country would "prevail" in reclaiming the islands and wrote Britain off as a nation "in decline," The Telegraph reported.
Milei backed the musing with hardware. He announced fast-tracked sanctions legislation against companies working Falklands oil — aimed at the Sea Lion field, where Britain's Rockhopper Exploration and its partner Navitas Petroleum plan to drill in 2026, and reaching their "suppliers, shareholders and directors" — plus new money for a naval base in Tierra del Fuego, Al Jazeera and the AP reported.
Trump opened the door. He told a British broadcaster he would not commit American support if a new Falklands conflict came: "I always review every position. That's just one of many," the president said, per NBC.
