President Trump has cast doubt on America’s willingness to back Britain if Argentina moves against the Falkland Islands, telling reporters that the UK’s reluctance to send warships to the Strait of Hormuz had left him unimpressed.
The remarks came as President Milei prepared to address the Argentine nation on what his government has billed as diplomatic progress over the islands’ future, more than four decades after the 1982 war.
Asked directly whether Washington would come to Britain’s aid in a fresh confrontation over the South Atlantic archipelago, Trump did not give a straight answer. Instead he recalled the 1982 conflict, when Margaret Thatcher dispatched a naval task force nearly 8,000 miles to retake the islands after Argentina’s invasion.
A dispute over the Gulf
The president’s hesitancy follows weeks of friction with Sir Keir Starmer over the Strait of Hormuz, where Iranian attacks on shipping have continued since the outbreak of the US-Iran war. Trump has pressed Britain, France, Japan and other allies to send warships to help reopen the strait, and has made little secret of his frustration at their refusal so far.
Starmer has resisted the request, telling MPs that Britain is not going to war over a conflict he has called America’s, and that his government’s priority is shielding households from further increases in energy bills.
Argentina has given no sign of military intent over the islands, and officials in Buenos Aires have framed Milei’s address as a diplomatic overture rather than a territorial ultimatum. But its timing, hours after Trump’s remarks, has unsettled British officials who had long treated Washington’s backing as a given.
Downing Street said Britain’s sovereignty over the Falklands was not in question, and that the defence of the islands did not depend on the position of any other government.