Argentina targets UK in legal claim over Falklands oil exploration

The action filed with an international maritime tribunal is the latest development in an escalating row over the Falkland Islands. The Argentinian government has begun legal action seeking to stop the exploration of oil and gas fields north of the Falkland Islands in an escalating row with the UK. Buenos Aires said in a statement the request lodged with the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea aimed to block activity authorised "illegally" by the UK. The claim comes a fortnight after Argentinian President Javier Milei demanded the scrapping of the Sea Lion oilfield project, a joint venture between Israeli and British companies. UK Foreign Office minister Uma Kumaran criticised the "escalating campaign" from Argentina against companies operating in the Falklands, while announcing new protections for them.

The developments heighten tensions between the UK and Argentina over the sovereignty of the self-governing British territory, known in Argentina as Las Malvinas, more than 40 years after a British military task force ejected Argentinian forces which had invaded the territory. Earlier last month Milei also threatened to impose economic sanctions on firms exploiting oil close to the Falkland Islands. Uma Kumaran accused the Argentinian government of "economic coercion" against the people of the Falkland Islands. "We will do whatever it takes to support them," she told the House of Commons on