The European Union has officially joined Operation Economic Outcast and we appreciate their strong and early stance.

The United States stands firm with our allies in ensuring the murderous Iranian regime cannot exploit the global financial system to fund its nuclear ambitions, weapons programs, and terror proxies.

The world is sending a clear message to the Iranian regime: We will not stop until every remaining financial lifeline has been severed.

I want to be clear with the world and express the position of the Argentine state:

The Falkland Islands are Argentine, by history and by law, there is no discussion about it.

The islands were part of the Argentine territory from the origins of our nation.

In 1833, the United Kingdom occupied the Falkland Islands, expelled the Argentine authorities, and established a colonial situation that persists to this day.

This implies that the islanders, as they are a population implanted in a usurped territory, do not have a legitimate right to self-determination, and that any argument based on references made on the islands is invalid.

Since then, Argentina has permanently maintained its claim to sovereignty, because, as the national constitution says in its first transitional clause, the Argentine nation ratifies its legitimate and indisputable sovereignty over the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands, and the corresponding maritime and insular spaces, for being an integral part of the national territory.

The recovery of these territories and the full exercise of sovereignty, respecting the way of life of its inhabitants and according to the principles of international law, constitute a permanent and indisputable objective of the Argentine people.

The United Nations recognizes the existence of a dispute of sovereignty between Argentina and the United Kingdom, and has repeatedly called on both countries to resolve it through bilateral and peaceful negotiations.

For this reason, the Falkland Islands cause does not belong to a government or a political party. It is a national cause.

During the last three years, our government has promoted our claim to sovereignty based on the new geopolitical relevance of our country.

We have obtained 18 resolutions and declarations from international bodies and forums in support of our claim, and presented more than 60 formal proposals in the face of unilateral actions of the United Kingdom.

In the world there are winds of favorable changes to our claim.

Recently, President Trump stated that the United States is re-evaluating its historical position in relation to the Falkland Islands. This threat is not harmless.

The United States evaluates this change of position because they know that Argentina has a reliable partner, aligned with Western values, in a position of strategic relevance that can be a valuable ally in the decades to come.

Without this, none of this would be possible. This alone is an unprecedented fact that shows that the role and relevance of our country in the world has changed strongly.

For 50 years, the United Nations has been asking Argentina and the United Kingdom not to take unilateral actions on the territory until the controversy is resolved, including the exploitation of its natural resources.

However, the United Kingdom has systematically disobeyed this call. In particular, we have managed to determine that the Sea Lion project, operated by Navitas Petroleum and Rockhopper Exploration, has a date to start offshore oil exploitation sometime in the next few months.

What does this mean? That if we do not act today with firmness and celerity, in a few months they will have the material capacity to appropriate from the oil reserves that lie under our sea, something that had never happened before until now.

If we allow it, we will be generating an incentive for the British government to go deeper into the occupation of the islands and the exploitation of our resources.

Sea Lion is just one of the projects that are advancing on our islands. There are other projects and other companies that also represent a threat to the strategic interests of Argentina.

This means that today our national cause faces a clear and urgent danger and demands a proportional response. We will not allow it. Argentina will not sit idly by.

As a response to this situation, we will deploy all the tools of the State—diplomatic, economic, judicial, and legal—to dissuade the state and non-state actors that violate our sovereignty.

Tonight I will be signing a decree to adopt more quickly the sanctioning procedures imposed by Law 26,659 against those who participate in oil extraction initiatives in Argentine territory under British occupation.

We will strengthen the early detection and information exchange mechanisms to facilitate the adoption of sanctions against the companies that carry out these activities, as well as against their shareholders, directors, and suppliers. We will proceed to disable the operation in Argentine territory of companies directly or indirectly involved in projects on the Falkland Islands without Argentine authorization.

Those who operate in our islands behind the Argentine government will have to choose between an illegal bet in disputed territory and a profitable and safe operation in a sovereign country with clear rules and predictability.

We will sign today a decree of necessity and urgency to expand the resources of the Ministry of Defense in order to build a naval base integrated in Tierra del Fuego and increase our telecommunications capabilities.

This base will become the most important logistics hub of the South Atlantic and will be fundamental for the geopolitical projection of Argentina.

Today we have everything to be a decisive nation on the global stage.

We have a privileged location and resources that can place our country in a central place in the new global order. During these three years we have established close ties with countries with whom we have a convergence of interests.

Now we trust that those same allies will be on our side in the legitimate and peaceful claim [of the Falkland Islands] that we promote today.

We ask those who are friends of Argentina not to look the other way when our sovereignty is violated and our resources are taken away.