The Executive of Argentina has granted the United Kingdom a maximum period of two weeks to stop the exploitation of hydrocarbons in the archipelago of the Falkland Islands, territory whose sovereignty is claimed by Buenos Aires, and warns that if London does not cease these activities, it will take the case to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea.
According to the statement released by the office of the Argentine president, Javier Milei, "The Argentine Republic has formally urged the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to, within a period of two weeks, take the necessary measures to prevent the initiation or continuation of activities aimed at the exploitation of hydrocarbon resources in the Argentine Continental Shelf."
The official text emphasizes that, "if the United Kingdom does not comply with this requirement within the set period, the Argentine Republic will request the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea the necessary provisional measures to preserve its sovereign rights over its Continental Shelf."
The Argentine Government denounces the "unilateral exploitation of natural resources" in the disputed area and in the adjacent maritime spaces, considering it "contrary to international law" and that it "produces an irreversible and irreparable harm to the sovereign rights of the Argentine Republic."
In legal terms, Argentina resorts to the arbitration mechanism provided for in Annex VII of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, with the aim of "preventing the illegitimate exploitation of hydrocarbon resources in the North Falkland Basin, through the project called Sea Lion." Likewise, it demands that the granting of new permits for the exploitation of natural resources "existing in the Argentine Continental Shelf" be suspended.
At the same time, Milei has communicated the adoption of sanctions, the filing of criminal complaints, and the initiation of new diplomatic efforts in response to the operations of the company Thales UK Limited on the air route Falkland Islands-Punta Arenas, carried out with a British-registered aircraft and without the authorization of the Argentine authorities.
The statement concludes with a political and diplomatic warning: "The Argentine Republic will not remain with its arms crossed and will continue to defend its sovereign rights firmly, using all the diplomatic, administrative, and legal tools that recognize it under international national law. The Malvinas are Argentine," emphasizes the text signed by Milei.
This movement raises the tension between Buenos Aires and London again and is part of the Argentine government's diplomatic pressure strategy regarding the dispute over the sovereignty of the Malvinas.