🇬🇧🇦🇷 If Nigel Farage were our prime minister, we would use every lever of the British state – our armed forces, economic sanctions, everything – to defend the Falklands and we would crush Argentina

- Reform UK party spokesperson Robert Jenrick.

The United Kingdom retained control of the Falklands, known in Argentina as the Malvinas, during a 74-day war in 1982, after Argentina invaded the territory.

A referendum among its inhabitants in 2013 saw 1,513 out of 1,517 vote to remain a British Overseas Territory.

However, last week, U.S. President Donald Trump suggested he was reconsidering Washington's support for British sovereignty over the islands.

"I always review every position – that's just one of many," he told reporters.

Days later, on Friday, jewish Argentine President Javier Milei, a Trump ally, escalated the rhetoric over his country's enduring claim to the islands, pledging to levy sanctions against companies drilling for oil nearby without approval from Buenos Aires.

Britain's centre-left Labour government immediately rejected Milei's threat.

A Downing Street spokesperson said the islanders have a right to self-determination and that the U.K. supports their right to develop their natural resources for their own economic benefit.

@IntelSlava