London: Britain has hit back at Argentina over a contested claim to the Falkland Islands in an escalating argument that includes calls to build up the Royal Navy more than four decades after the two nations went to war.
The British government dismissed the rival claim after public anger at Argentine players who ran onto the field after their World Cup semi-final with a banner declaring their country owned the islands.
The taunts from the Argentine players came moments after their team defeated England by 2 – 1 on Wednesday (Thursday morning AEST) and set up a World Cup final between Argentina and Spain on Sunday (Monday morning AEST).
“The World Cup might not be ours, but the Falkland Islands definitely are,” said a spokesperson for Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
While government officials have sought to be diplomatic, the anger in London has turned the football match into a geopolitical argument.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, whose party leads public polling, linked the war with the football shortly before the match began, posting on social media: “Let’s do it all over again just like 1982.”
In the wake of the defeat on the field and the Argentine banner-waving, Farage called for more spending on the military.
“Whilst I am disgusted at the behaviour of some Argentinian players last night, the most important thing to do is build up the Royal Navy quickly,” he posted.
Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch also took a firm line against the Argentine claims.
“The Falkland Islands are British. The Conservatives will always defend them,” she said.
While the dispute is making headlines in Britain because of the World Cup, the government concerns are founded on renewed claims from Argentine President Javier Milei, a right-wing leader often praised by US President Donald Trump.
The US Department of War has canvassed a shift in policy to reconsider the British title to the islands, according to a leaked memo reported by Reuters in April.
The policy options were prepared by Elbridge Colby, the Pentagon’s under-secretary of defence for policy, and were shaped by his frustration at the way the UK and other allies did not agree to US requests for aid in the war against Iran, Reuters reported.
Combined with the Trump administration’s strong support for Milei, including a $US20 billion ($28.6 billion) currency swap that shores up the Argentine economy, the leaked memo has heightened concerns about a diplomatic clash with Buenos Aires about the islands.
Victoria Villarruel, Argentina’s vice-president, stepped up the geopolitical rhetoric before the match by calling England a bunch of “usurping pirates” and declaring that this was not just another match.
“It’s putting the brakes on the invaders. Go Argentina! Because until our last breath, we’re going to claim what’s ours!” she wrote.
The Falkland Islands are a British overseas territory and have a population of about 3600 people. At a referendum in 2013, 99.8 per cent of the people voted to remain with Britain.
The war began in April 1982 when the military junta ruling Argentina sent soldiers to seize the islands. Then-British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher responded in the following days by sending a nuclear-powered submarine, two aircraft carriers and other ships. In a major shift in the war, the Royal Navy sank the Belgrano, one of Argentina’s biggest naval vessels, on May 2, 1982. Days later, the Argentine navy sank the Sheffield, a British destroyer.
By June 1, after British troops had retaken the island and a ceasefire was declared, the war had led to the deaths of 649 Argentine and 255 British personnel.
The military junta was replaced in 1983 after years of human rights abuses including the deaths of as many as 30,000 opponents and dissidents who “disappeared” while in custody, some of them thrown from aircraft over the Atlantic Ocean.
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David Crowe is Europe correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via X or email.
