Arabic version: الأرجنتين تهدد باتخاذ إجراءات قانونية ضد بريطانيا بشأن حقل نفطي في جزر فوكلاند

According to BBC News, Argentina’s President Javier Milei has threatened legal action against the British government unless oil exploration linked to the Sea Lion project off the Falkland Islands is halted. In a social media post, Milei gave the project a two-week deadline to be scrapped.

Milei said he had instructed Argentina’s Foreign Ministry and legal teams to begin international arbitration against the UK if the deadline was not met. He described the project as the “illegal plundering of our resources” and said Argentina could take the matter to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, an independent judicial body in Hamburg concerned with the application of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Sea Lion is a joint venture involving Britain’s Rockhopper Exploration and Israel’s Navitas Petroleum. The companies are due to begin extracting oil within two years and have said the field holds valid licences issued by the Falkland Islands. Located about 130 miles (209km) from the islands, the oilfield is estimated to contain 1.7 billion barrels of oil.

The dispute adds to long-running tensions over sovereignty of the archipelago, known in Argentina as Las Malvinas. Milei recently criticised the UN for its handling of the issue, while UK Defence Secretary Wes Streeting said Argentina “lacks the ability” to take the Falklands by force. In a 2013 referendum, 99.8% of island residents voted to remain a British overseas territory. Argentina’s 1982 invasion triggered a 74-day war that killed 255 British military personnel, three islanders and 649 Argentine military personnel.