US President Donald Trump has raised doubts about whether his country would support Britain in another conflict over the Falkland Islands in an interview with a British broadcaster, injecting new tension into the long-standing dispute over the British-controlled archipelago also claimed by Argentina.
Trump's comments came as his ideological ally, Argentine President Javier Milei, prepared to deliver a televised national address about what his government has described as diplomatic progress over the islands that lie about 480 kilometres off Argentina's coast in the South Atlantic.
When asked in an interview with British television channel GB News whether the US would "come to the aid" of Britain in a new conflict over the territory, Trump avoided answering directly.
"Well, look, I was there when they had the first war," Trump said of the 10-week conflict that erupted in April 1982, when Argentina's waning military dictatorship invaded the islands, and then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher sent British naval forces across the Atlantic to retake them.
The war killed 649 Argentine troops, 255 British service members and three islanders.
"That was a long time ago, and I watched it so carefully, and you comported yourselves very well," Trump added. "You took it back pretty strongly."
On Wednesday, Milei said Argentina will fight "tooth and nail" to defend the country's national interests, referring to the islands.
"What cause could be more important and strategic for the vital interests of the nation than the cause of the Malvinas?" he said, using Argentina’s name for the islands.
Trump invokes Iran war
He then pivoted to complaints that Britain has not provided sufficient support for the US-led war against Iran.
It wasn't the first time the Trump administration had drawn a connection between Britain's claim to the remote islands and its refusal to participate in the US war on Iran: An internal Pentagon email reported in April raised the prospect of Washington reconsidering its position on the archipelago as one possible way to punish NATO allies that declined to join the Iran war.
"Your country's not doing well," he said of Britain. "Your country was not there to help me."
Trump recalled Britain's former prime minister, Keir Starmer, telling him the country did not have ships to contribute to the campaign. "It was pretty sad, the whole thing," he said.
For decades, successive US administrations have remained neutral on the competing Argentine and British sovereignty claims over the Falklands while recognising Britain's de facto administration of the islands.
Any departure from that position would be a major diplomatic affront and inflame already high trans-Atlantic tensions.
Trump had already fuelled speculation about a possible shift in US policy on Monday when asked whether his administration was reviewing its stance on the islands.
"I always review every position," Trump replied. "That's just one of many."
Milei, a free-market libertarian who has struggled to prove his nationalist credentials and previously been criticised for a lack of support for the cause, welcomed Trump's comment, declaring that "something major happened regarding the most sacred cause we Argentines have."
Longstanding, unwavering position
Asked earlier this week about Milei's planned address, Prime Minister Andy Burnham's spokesman, Tom Wells, said the British government's position was "long-standing and unwavering."
He pointed to a 2013 referendum in which the roughly 4,000 people living in the Falkland Islands voted overwhelmingly in favour of remaining a British overseas territory.
"Sovereignty rests with the UK, and the islanders' right to self-determination is paramount," Wells said. "The UK's position is clear. The islanders have repeatedly expressed their wish to remain a British overseas territory."
Argentina maintains that it inherited sovereignty over the islands from its former coloniser, Spain, and that Britain has illegally occupied them since 1833.
The Falklands, known in Argentina as the Malvinas, still carry enormous political and symbolic weight as one of the few causes that unite the deeply divided country.
Argentine patriotic fervour over the islands flared most recently during this year's World Cup, when players celebrated their semifinal victory over England by displaying a banner declaring "Las Malvinas son Argentinas" — "The Malvinas are Argentine."
