Argentina to file criminal case against oil company operating in Falklands

In his speech on Thursday evening local time, Milei restated his government's position on the territory, saying "the Malvinas are Argentine, historically and legally... there's no debate about that."The president described drilling for oil in the archipelago as a "clear and urgent danger" to Argentine sovereignty.He also dismissed the result of a 2013 referendum in which 99.8% of the islands' residents voted in favour of the Falklands remaining a British oversees territory.Milei argued that they were living on land which had been "usurped" by the British and therefore "have no legitimate right to self-determination".The British government dismissed Milei's speech and stressed that its position on the Falklands was "unwavering".Hopes that Milei's primetime speech may have been a blip and that he would return to his previous stance of strengthening diplomatic ties with the UK were crushed on Monday, however, when his office announced it would file criminal charges against Navitas Petroleum, several of its subsidiaries and their executives. Navitas, which is listed in Tel Aviv, holds a 65% stake in Sea Lion, an offshore oil project set to start production in the North Falkland Basin in 2028.