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🇩🇰 Denmark /Elections & Politics

British minister answers Milei’s demand: The Falklands are ours

From Berlingske · () Danish

Translated from Danish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

Newswire Named sources Ongoing story
  • Argentine President Javier Milei renewed his claim that the Falkland Islands are Argentine and said they must be recovered.
  • British Defence Minister Wes Streeting said the islands are British because their residents chose to be British, and called Britain’s commitment to them absolute.
  • The dispute comes as the United States reviews its position, while island residents overwhelmingly voted to remain under British rule in referendums in 1986 and 2013.

The old Falklands dispute has flared again after Argentine President Javier Milei declared that the islands belong to Argentina. “The Falklands are Argentine. Historically and legally. There can be no discussion. They are part of Argentine territory,” he said, according to Sky News.

The Falklands are British because the people of the Falkland Islands chose to be British.

· Wes StreetingThe British defence minister responds to Javier Milei’s renewed Argentine claim.

Milei said the islands were Argentina’s future and that the country had to recover them because of their national importance. He also argued that new political winds favored Argentina’s claim, pointing to the possibility that the United States could reconsider its neutral position in the dispute.

British Defence Minister Wes Streeting responded that the Falklands belong to Britain because the islanders had chosen to be British. “The Falklands are British because the people of the Falkland Islands chose to be British,” he wrote on X. He added that Britain’s commitment to the islands was “absolute and unwavering.” Streeting also said Milei’s comments reflected Argentine domestic politics more than the Falklands themselves.

Our commitment to the Falkland Islands is absolute and unwavering.

· Wes StreetingStreeting describes Britain’s position on the islands.

The islands are a British overseas territory in the South Atlantic, off the coast of southern Argentina, and have been administered by Britain since 1833. The competing claims led to the 1982 Falklands War. About 4,000 people live on the islands, and referendums in 1986 and 2013 produced overwhelming votes to remain under British rule, with 95% and 99.8% support respectively.

The Falklands are Argentine. Historically and legally. There can be no discussion. They are part of Argentine territory.

· Javier MileiThe Argentine president renews his claim to sovereignty over the islands.

The United States has historically regarded the Falklands as British territory. President Donald Trump said earlier in the week that Washington was reconsidering its position, while a leaked U.S. Defense Department email read by Reuters reportedly pointed to the same review. The stated purpose was to punish Britain over its alleged lack of support for the United States in the war against Iran.

The Falklands are our future. We have to recover these islands because they are of national importance. There is no other way forward.

· Javier MileiMilei explains why he says Argentina must regain the islands.
About this summary

Originally published by Berlingske in Danish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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