An internal Pentagon email said that the White House is considering reviewing the U.S. position on the United Kingdom’s claim to the Malvinas Islands, according to an anonymous U.S. official quoted by Reuters. 

The Malvinas are a South Atlantic archipelago in the Argentine Sea occupied by the British in 1833, which Argentina claims as its own. On April 2, 1982, the Argentine dictatorship tried to seize the islands in a war that lasted 74 days and left a death toll of 649 Argentine and 255 British soldiers.

An article published on Friday by the news agency said the decision was among a list of potential retaliations the U.S. would carry out to punish its North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies for not supporting the recent war with Iran.

The unnamed source said another potential decision was suspending Spain from NATO.

Asked for comment, the British Embassy in Argentina directed the Herald to statements made by UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper on X.

“The Falklands Islands are British – sovereignty rests with the UK, self-determination rests with the islanders,” said Cooper, using the name the British gave the islands after the occupation. “As Stephen Doughty said in Parliament again this week, our commitment to the Falklands is unwavering,” the official added.

In a post on X, the Argentine Foreign Minister, Pablo Quirno, answered Cooper’s statement, saying that “Argentina reaffirms its sovereign rights over the Falkland Islands, South Georgia, and the South Sandwich Islands, as well as the surrounding maritime areas.”  The post was shared by President Javier Milei.

He added that “the occupation of 1833 was an act of force contrary to the international law of the time” and said Argentina is willing to “resume bilateral negotiations with the United Kingdom to find a peaceful and definitive solution to the sovereignty dispute.”

U.S. President Donald Trump, a close ally of Milei, has openly criticized his NATO allies for not helping open the Strait of Hormuz.

In a statement, the Pentagon’s press secretary, Kingsley Wilson, said: “Despite everything that the United States has done for our NATO allies, they were not there for us. The War Department will ensure that the president has credible options to ensure that our allies are no longer a paper tiger and instead do their part.”

Diego Guelar, a politician and former Argentine ambassador to the U.S., said that the shift in position is a possibility. “With Trump, anything could happen,” he told the Herald. “But it’s better to wait,” he added.

Last year, U.S. ambassador to Argentina Peter Lamelas had said that the United States “recognizes” British administration, but that the U.S. holds a position of “neutrality” and “does not recognize sovereignty over the islands for either Argentina or Britain.”

The memo leaked to Reuters said that the White House could consider reassessing U.S. diplomatic support for longstanding European “imperial possessions,” such as the Malvinas. It also said that, during the U.S. attack on Iran, Spain and the U.K. had not granted access, basing and overflight rights (ABO), which it considered “just the absolute baseline for NATO.”

On Friday, Spanish President Pedro Sánchez downplayed the leak.

“I don’t work with emails,” Sánchez said to the press at an informal meeting with European leaders being held in Cyprus. “We base our actions on official documents and, eventually, the positions taken by the U.S. government. The Spanish government’s position is clear: full cooperation with our allies, but always within the framework of international law,” he added.

Editorial disclaimer: Although the UK refers to the territory as the “Falkland Islands,” Argentina strongly contests this name. The Buenos Aires Herald uses “Malvinas” to refer to the islands.

© Buenos Aires Herald