Trump weighs revisiting US stance on Falklands, handing Argentina an opening

US President Donald Trump has said he is reconsidering Washington's long-held neutral position on sovereignty over the Falkland Islands, known in Argentina as the Malvinas. Such a shift would effectively abandon the implicit US backing for British control of the territory.

Argentina's right-wing president, Javier Milei, seized on the comment, using a televised address to his nation on Thursday to declare his intention to revive his country's historic claim to the windswept islands in the South Atlantic. The centuries-old sovereignty dispute had lain dormant since 1982, when Argentina and Britain fought a brief but bloody war after Argentina's military dictatorship invaded the territory. Then British prime minister Margaret Thatcher sent a naval taskforce that retook the islands and forced Argentina's surrender. An uneasy peace has held since, though Argentina has never renounced its claim, while the islands' fewer than 2,000 residents insist they wish to remain British.

Trump's grievance with Britain

According to the report, Trump's shift is driven largely by resentment that Britain, under former prime minister Keir Starmer, declined to back his decision to strike Iran militarily. In an interview with British channel GB News, Trump complained that Britain had not helped him and that Nato likewise offered no assistance, recounting that the former UK leader told him the country had no ships available to send. Milei's opportunistic move could also serve as leverage for Trump to pressure Britain into higher defense and Nato spending, especially after new UK chancellor John Healey suggested the country might miss its increased spending targets.

Similar retribution has reportedly been directed at other allies who declined to join the campaign against Iran, including scaled-back joint military exercises with South Korea, threats against Oman, a withdrawal of US troops from Germany, and pressure on Spain and Italy.

Milei, whose government received a $20bn US loan guarantee last year to stabilize Argentina's economy, used his address to argue that Britain is in decline, pointing to migration, demographic and economic troubles.