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Argentine President Javier Milei announced economic sanctions against foreign firms developing offshore oil and gas near the Falkland Islands without Argentine approval.
The measures single out the Sea Lion project in the North Falkland Basin, in which Britain's Rockhopper Exploration and Israel's Navitas Petroleum are involved.
Milei also announced an integrated naval base in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina's southernmost province.
Falklands War veterans and environmental lawyers filed a suit on 1 September 2026 seeking to halt the Sea Lion project.
UK Defence Secretary Wes Streeting rejected the claim on 4 September, calling Britain's commitment to the islands absolute and unshakeable.
The Falklands sit in the South Atlantic east of Patagonia. Tierra del Fuego, at the southern tip of South America, is Argentina's gateway to the South Atlantic and to the Drake Passage, the stretch of water separating South America from Antarctica.
The waterway between Cape Horn and Antarctica; control of the South Atlantic approaches gives Tierra del Fuego its strategic weight, which is why the new naval base is placed there.
Territories under UK sovereignty but not part of the United Kingdom; the Falklands are one, with their own government and a British-appointed governor.
Exploration licences in contested waters turn on which state is recognised as entitled to grant them, a recurring question in law-of-the-sea disputes.
GS Paper II > International Relations > Effect of policies of developed and developing countries; GS Paper I > World Geography
General Awareness > World Geography and Current Affairs
The Argentine name for the Falkland Islands, used in all Argentine official references to the territory.
A territory under United Kingdom sovereignty that is not part of the UK itself; the Falklands hold this status.
Argentina's southernmost province, at the tip of South America, commanding access to the South Atlantic and the Drake Passage.