Britain Pushes Back on American Threat To Reconsider Who Owns the Falkland Islands

British officials are pushing back on an internal Pentagon email that reportedly claims America is reconsidering its position on Britain’s claim to the Falkland Islands, a strategic chain in the South Atlantic that is also claimed by Argentina.The email outlines possible ways for America to punish NATO allies who have failed to support President Trump’s military operations in the war with Iran, according to Reuters.“The Falkland Islands are British — sovereignty rests with the UK, self-determination rests with the islanders,” Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said in an X post on Friday.The American military provided weapons and intelligence to Britain during the Falklands War against Argentina, which invaded the islands in February 1982 only to be driven out two months later.Argentina still claims ownership of the islands and the current president, Javier Milei, is one of MAGA world’s favorite Latin American leaders.Ideas floated in the email also include suspending Spain from the NATO alliance, an unnamed American official told Reuters. It is unclear if there is any mechanism in place to suspend a member of the alliance, and Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, declined to weigh in on the issue on Friday.“Well, we do not work with emails,” Mr. Sánchez told reporters at a European Union summit. “We work with official documents and positions taken, in this case, by the government of the United States.”The options laid out in the email are reportedly intended to send a message to allies that they need to feel less entitled to America’s military protection.President Trump has lashed out against NATO allies for a lack of support in the fight against Iran. It took the British days to allow American forces to use a joint airbase at Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. The Spanish banned use of their bases and airspace for the fight and Italy refused to allow American bombers to refuel in Sicily.Mr. Trump has also pushed European countries to help patrol the Strait of Hormuz, saying the passage of oil tankers through the strait is more of a problem for them than for America. Mr. Trump has also threatened to leave the NATO alliance, although the latest letter does not raise that possibility.At a Friday briefing on the Iran war, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said “the time for freeriding is over.”“America, and the free world, deserve allies who are capable, who are loyal, and to understand that being an ally is not a one-way street,” Mr. Hegseth said.The secretary suggested that allies “might want to start doing less talking and having less fancy conferences in Europe and get in the boat.”

Britain Pushes Back on American Threat To Reconsider Who Owns the Falkland Islands

Britain Pushes Back on American Threat To Reconsider Who Owns the Falkland Islands

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