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Argentina President Javier Milei has reiterated the country's claim on the Falkland Islands and said he would introduce sanctions on any oil companies working in the area.
He was speaking in a national address amid renewed tensions over the British overseas territory after US President Donald Trump hinted the US would not help the UK in a future conflict over the islands.
Mr Milei said: "I want to be quite clear with everybody. The Falklands are Argentinean. Historically and legally.
"There can be no argument. They are part of the Argentine territory."
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0:00
Let's talk about the Falklands
0:02
Had enough of this nonsense. This is all over the press. Javier Mille, the Argentinian president
0:11
facing a few domestic challenges, should we put it that way. He's got an election coming up in October next year
0:18
trying to play Mr. Hard Man on Argentina. Well, not on Argentina
0:22
Well, we should play Hard Man on Argentina. Why don't we just take over Argentina? That would be easy, wouldn't it? Yeah, let's go and invade Argentina
0:27
That would be a laugh. He's wanting to take over Las Malvinas
0:33
the Falkland Islands. Remember at the end of that tie that we had
0:38
in the World Cup, the Argentinian football team impertinently holding up a sign
0:45
saying that the Falkland Islands were theirs. Well, I tell you, this is all over the press
0:50
The mail. Argentina can smell Burnham's weakness. Kemi Badenoch blasts PM after latest threat to recover the Falklands
1:01
Andy Burnham was accused of being too weak to stand up to Argentina
1:05
over its latest threat to recover the Falklands. The Prime Minister failed to respond after Buenos Aires escalated tensions
1:14
to their highest level since 1982 by insisting the islands were historically and legally Argentinian
1:22
Now, in a bizarre address to the nation, this is according to the Mail, Argentine President Javier Miele said the country needed to act swiftly
1:30
to release the Falklands from British occupation. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said self-styled hard man Mr Miele
1:39
smells Andy Burnham's weakness, inverted commas. Now, in a speech which the Mail describes as menacing
1:48
it says it has set off alarm bells in Westminster. The Argentine president referred to his country's defeat in 1982
1:55
in that war that we had with them by saying that taking the islands
1:59
was the best way of paying tribute to those who died. Well, we also lost people in that particular war
2:08
255 British casualties, 649 Argentinian troops were killed. Three islanders were also killed
2:15
Let's not forget this. Now, Mr Burnham has failed to publicly respond
2:20
to these threats against the British Overseas Territory, Javier Mille, I should also say, threatened to impose sanctions on oil drilling off the Falklands by a British firm
2:32
and said he would build a new naval base just a few hundred miles from the archipelago
2:39
Now, former Prime Minister Boris Johnson has called on Mr Burnham to deploy extra military resources to the Falklands
2:45
immediately to deter Argentine aggression. And you know that there's this whole conversation going on more broadly about defence spending and 3
2:54
and when it's going to be achieved and all the rest of it, right? We're going to find out what John Healy's got up his sleeve in October
3:00
Not sure we can wait till October quite frankly for this budget but some serious decisions are going to have to be made And we also know that Takemi Badenok has said this I worried this is her words not mine
3:12
I'm worried that Burnham is fundamentally a people pleaser who can't say no
3:17
And we have a prime minister who isn't prepared to act in the national interest
3:22
There's also a lesson here for our sleepy Labour government. The madness of surrendering the Chagos Islands
3:28
mean other countries are now trying their luck. If we do not defend our own interests
3:34
whether we're on energy or territory, others will happily exploit that weakness
3:40
I tell you this, I think Kemi Baden-Ok's bang on the money here. I genuinely do
3:45
And in that first exchange they had in Parliament, Prime Minister's questions on Wednesday
3:50
the day after that three-hour stint that Andy Burnham did, answering 125 questions
3:56
where we didn't really get much out of the 125 questions, really, did we
4:00
Other than, you know, and he's a good bloke. I mean, we know he's a good bloke. I like him. He's a good bloke
4:05
I mean, I'd like to have an orange juice with him at a pub sometime. Fine
4:10
But when Kimi Badenoch says he's a people pleaser, I think she's actually on to something
4:16
And I think probably Javier Mille, the Argentine president, might have got wind of that himself
4:22
which is why he's making these statements. You might think I'm being uncharitable here
4:26
but Javier Mille thinks that we are a declining power. I'll come to that in a minute
4:31
I'm going to ask you this question before I move on, which is this
4:34
Can Argentina smell Britain's weakness over the Falklands? Can Argentina smell Britain's weakness over the Falklands
4:46
0345 6060 973 text 84850. I mean, Kemi Badenot would go even further and say
4:53
forget about Britain's weakness. can Argentina smell Burnham's weakness? Now, I was a bit more charitable
4:59
because the guy's only been in power for a few weeks and it was the summer after all
5:05
So we can't hold him accountable for everything. And it was Sakhir Starmer with Lord Herma
5:10
who was getting us into, the former Attorney General, who's getting us into all those knots
5:14
and that galactic mess over the Chagos Islands and the 99-year lease of Diego Garcia
5:20
and the fact that the US didn't want that to happen. and it was a bit like, you know, Vicky Pollard
5:26
You know, yeah, but no, but yeah, but no, but yeah, but no, but. I'm not sure we can mention Vicky Pollard these days
5:30
on the back of it being politically incorrect to even talk about Little Britain, but there you go
5:36
So that's the kind of approach they're taking. So I think Kemi Badenok is actually onto something here
5:41
And Reform UK, we were just talking about them in the last hour. They also warned that Mr Burnham was too weak
5:46
to defend the Falklands from Argentinian aggression. Robert Jenrick said, the sacrifice of our Falklands veterans is set to be betrayed
5:54
Why? The Argentinians have taken one look at Burnham and West Streeting
5:58
and worked out that they're a pair of simps too weak to defend our islands
6:03
What are they going to do? Flutter their eyelashes at Mille That a bit harsh quite frankly I mean we have heard that the UK government has come back and basically said that they are fully committed to supporting Argentina
6:18
and that if there was a standoff, and this is from West Streeting himself
6:24
if there was a standoff, that the UK would be well placed to defeat Argentina in such a scenario
6:32
But it's still interesting that we're having this conversation right now. Now, I should mention the fact that Javier Mille has not exactly been charitable in
6:42
his words about the UK. He said that the Falkland Islands are ours and they were taken from us
6:53
This is a speech just made a couple of days ago. He added, and I quote, if we evaluate the structural conditions of the United Kingdom
7:00
they confront multiple crises of migratory of a migratory demographic and economic character
7:09
that will be difficult to solve it is clear that they are in decline he's talking about us he's
7:16
talking about us this argent this argentine muppet is talking about us here right you should
7:21
be angry about this you should be annoyed argentina is flourishing and it will prevail
7:27
Well, it's not flourishing that much, President Mille, is it? Because you're under pressure, aren't you
7:31
From your Ersvald vice president, Victoria Villarul, who's probably coming and gunning for your position
7:39
at the next election. So spare me this nonsense about the fact that Argentina's some great utopia
7:46
I mean, yes, you're very good at polo and I'd love to come and see the Polo Cup
7:49
and you've got great steak. But don't get ahead of yourself, right
7:54
Come on, be serious. We should be serious about this. Can Argentina smell Britain's weakness over the Falklands
8:01
particularly given that Chagos debacle that we have been speaking about for months now
8:06
that's sort of been kicked into the long grass since Donald Trump said he didn't want to allow it to happen
8:12
We're just sort of rolled over. So much for process and so much for the rules
8:17
and so much for respect for international law. When the US comes and says we don't like it
8:21
we roll over, just like we did in Iraq. Let's bring into the conversation Dr. Christopher Sabatini, who is director of the Latin America program at Chatham House
8:31
I mean, it seems to be a real change in position from Javier Millet in particular
8:36
given that he hasn't really spoken about the Falkland Islands throughout the majority of his presidency and is now
8:44
Is that because of trouble at home? It's trouble at home and also the signals that President, US President Donald Trump is sending
8:51
First of all, to take the Trump example, Donald Trump said that, you know, he doesn't know whether he would back the U.K.'s defense of the Falkland Islands if it came to it
9:00
Now, what he's doing there are two things. One is he's backing his sort of acolyte, Javier Malay in Argentina, who has been very closely tied to Donald Trump, visited Mar-a-Lago
9:10
In fact he was the first head of state that visited Donald Trump after his reelection But also what he doing is he expressing he said specifically well the UK didn help me when I was in Iran So he
9:22
trying to show some light there. But then Javier Malay is in political trouble. His approval ratings
9:29
are around 30%, a little over, actually the same as Donald Trump's, funnily enough. And basically
9:36
he wants to run for re-election in 2027, so he couldn't resist both the potential that Donald
9:42
Trump could back him as well as his own political future. He couldn't resist touching that perennial
9:47
nerve of Argentine politics, which is that they believe the Falklands, the Malvinas, are theirs
9:53
And so he's sort of opened up this can of worms. He's using an excuse, the oil investment and
9:59
potential drilling soon by a British and Israeli company in the Falklands waters. And he's using
10:07
that as an excuse. But he, you know, I think he, it's a shame because he'd been moving in a very
10:12
positive direction and collaborating with NATO, the UK and the US on basically patrolling and
10:18
gaining greater control over the South Atlantic and Antarctica, which is being challenged by China
10:23
and Russia. And now he seems to walk that back for his own political ambitions. And it's interesting
10:28
the tone of the article with The Economist compared with the sort of
10:32
fairly bellicose tone that he gave during his address, Javier Mille. But in terms of the
10:38
drilling that you rightly mention at the Sea Lion Depot, which is
10:42
Rockhopper, which as you say is a British company, then there's Navitas, which is
10:46
an Israeli company. Javier Mille is saying there's going to be sanctions
10:50
for drilling off the islands. Do we know what that could look like? And also
10:54
it would seem that clearly in his quest for more oil reserve
10:58
President Trump's interested in potentially getting US companies involved, wouldn't it? On the latter, I don't know
11:06
But on the former, you know, I don't know what those sanctions would be. Perhaps sanctions on British goods
11:11
Israeli goods entering Argentina. I think he would be loath to sanction oil companies
11:16
He, Havermoli's entire political project basically involves attracting oil investors and natural resource and mining companies
11:25
to Argentina under what he's called a RIGI, the R-I-G-I investment platform
11:32
There are large oil and natural gas reserves and shale gas reserves in the Bacamuerta fields
11:37
in Neocan province, also off the coast. He doesn't want to look like he is someone who's willing to abrogate a contract or sanction
11:46
if you will, individual companies. And yes, of course, Donald Trump now is all about the oil
11:51
A lot of that is performative. We are seeing this in Venezuela. a lot of these reserves that Trump is trying to claim. And again, this is about politics. He's
11:59
trying to claim he's gaining access to oil reserves that will lower the price of oil in his own
12:04
country, but that will take years for these oil reserves to be properly tapped, refined
12:08
enter the market. But he's using this, if you will, a sort of a false promise to American voters
12:16
So yes, he could go that direction. But I think right now, this is really between Javier Malay
12:20
and the UK
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