The ‘Special Relationship’ was rocked by a furious new row today after Washington hinted at helping Argentina’s claim to the Falklands.
On the eve of the King’s State Visit, it has emerged that US support for British sovereignty over the islands could be reviewed.
The move appears to be part of Donald Trump’s drive to punish Nato countries for failing to help with his war against Iran.
Argentinian president Javier Milei is a close ally of Mr Trump, and has reiterated the country’s claim to the islands – which the UK defended by force in 1982, at the cost of more than 250 lives.
But the threat has drawn outrage from across the UK political spectrum. Downing Street insisted the status of the Falklands ‘could not be clearer’, while Kemi Badenoch branded the suggestion ‘nonsense’. The Lib Dems called for the monarch’s trip to America next week to be called off.
Falklands war veteran Simon Weston accused Mr Trump of being a ‘schoolyard bully’ warning that Argentina could use the shift as an excuse for another invasion.
Reports surfaced overnight that the Pentagon would look again at the UK’s claim to the territory.
According to Reuters, an internal memo floated reassessing US diplomatic support for longstanding European ‘imperial possessions’ such as the Falklands, as well as kicking Spain out of Nato for refusing to ramp up defence spending.
The Pentagon is exploring ways for the US to punish NATO countries for failing to support the Iran war, including reviewing the UK’s claim to the territory
Royal Marine Peter Robinson carrying the Union Jack as he marched towards Stanley in the final hours of the Falklands War in June 1982
A Downing Street spokesman said the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands ‘rests with the UK’
A Downing Street spokesman said the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands ‘rests with the UK’.
Asked about the report, the spokesman said: ‘The Falkland Islands have hugely voted overwhelmingly in favour of remaining a UK overseas territory, and we’ve always stood behind the islanders’ right to self-determination and the fact that sovereignty rests with the UK.’
The spokesman continued: ‘We’ve expressed this position previously clearly and consistently to successive US administrations and nothing is going to change that.’
Asked if Sir Keir thought it was another attempt by the US to put pressure on him over the Iran war, his spokesman said: ‘He has spoken about that and he has also spoken about how that pressure does not affect him, and he will always act in the national interest, and that will always remain the case.’
Tory leader Mrs Badenoch told reporters: ‘The Falkland Islands are British. They have been for a very long time. The sovereignty is British sovereignty.’
Lib Dem leader Ed Davey said the US plan was ‘outrageous’ saying: ‘This is crazy. Yesterday, President Trump was saying that the State Visit by the King would improve relations.
‘Today he’s threatened tariffs on the UK. And now we have this leaked memo saying he’s threatening British sovereignty in the Falklands.’
He added: ‘The state visit should clearly be pulled – this unreliable, damaging President cannot keep insulting our country.”
However, No10 dismissed suggestions that the King should be stood down.
‘We are absolutely confident the state visit will showcase the very best of the UK-US bilateral relationship, from security to our economic ties, and our people to people relationships,’ the PM’s spokesman said.
‘It will underline that this relationship is a deep relationship that goes back decades, and it is one that is forged in history, our people to people ties, as well as our economic, and security and defence relationship.’
Other politicians took to social media to reaffirm the islands’ British status, with Labour MP for York Outer Luke Charters sharing his support alongside photos of himself on the territory.
Conservative MP for Huntingdon Ben Obese-Jecty wrote: ‘The US State Department position on the Falklands is already: ‘We recognize de facto United Kingdom administration of the islands but take no position regarding sovereignty.’
‘What exactly are they planning to review, recognising Argentina’s claim? It was only three weeks ago that Javier Milei, a Trump ally, reasserted Argentina’s claim on the ‘Malvinas’.
‘The implication here is that the US are prepared to entertain this view.’
And Labour for Newcastle-under-Lyme added: ‘The Falklands are [British] and we don’t need others to tell us that.’
The State Department’s website states that the islands are administered by the United Kingdom but are still claimed by Argentina, whose Libertarian President Javier Milei is a Trump ally.
Britain and Argentina fought in 1982 over the islands after Argentina made a failed bid to take them. Some 650 Argentine soldiers and 255 British troops died before Argentina surrendered.
Mr Trump has repeatedly insulted Sir Keir after he refused to join offensive action against Iran, calling him cowardly and ‘no Winston Churchill’.
He has claimed he refused an offer of Britain’s ‘toy’ aircraft carriers being deployed to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz – something the UK is adamant was never contemplated.
The US was initially blocked from using British bases for Iran operations, Sir Keir later authorised defensive missions aimed at protecting allies in the region.
Shadow Armed Forces Minister Mark Francois said: ‘Because of his strong personal bond with Mrs Thatcher, President Reagan ultimately backed Britain during the 1982 Falklands War.
‘The fact the Americans could now even be contemplating something like this, shows just how far their relations have deteriorated with Starmer’s hapless, failing government.
‘When the US invoked Article 5 of the NATO Treaty immediately after 9/11 – the only time it’s ever been done – Britain was one of the first countries to respond, with support from our special forces, hunting Islamist terrorists in the caves of Tora Bora.
Labour MP for York Outer Luke Charters shared his support alongside photos of himself on the territory
Conservative Member of Parliament for Huntingdon Ben Obese-Jecty wrote: ‘The implication here is that the US are prepared to entertain this view.’
‘I was at a conference in Washington DC yesterday, where I politely reminded our American cousins of that very point.’
Another option in the email envisions suspending ‘difficult’ countries from important or prestigious positions at NATO, the US official said.
The US President has harshly criticised NATO allies for not sending naval forces to help open the Strait of Hormuz, which was closed to global shipping following the start of the war on February 28.
He has also declared he is considering withdrawing from the alliance.
‘Wouldn’t you if you were me?’, Trump asked Reuters in an April 1 interview, in response to a question about whether the US pulling out of NATO was a possibility.
But the Pentagon memo is not thought to suggest that the US do so. It also does not propose closing bases in Europe.
Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson said: ‘As President Trump has 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. We have no further comment on any internal deliberations to that effect,’ Wilson said.
The US-Israeli war with Iran has raised serious questions about the future of the 76-year-old bloc and provoked unprecedented concern that the US might not come to the aid of European allies should they be attacked, analysts and diplomats say.
Britain, France and others say that joining the US naval blockade would amount to entering the war, but that they would be willing to help keep the Strait open once there was a lasting ceasefire or the conflict ended.
But Trump administration officials have stressed that NATO cannot be a one-way street.
They have expressed frustration with Spain, where the Socialist leadership said it would not allow its bases or airspace to be used to attack Iran. The United States has two important military bases in Spain: Naval Station Rota and Morón Air Base.
The policy options outlined in the email would be intended to send a strong signal to NATO allies with the goal of ‘decreasing the sense of entitlement on the part of the Europeans,’ the official said, summarising the email.
The option to suspend Spain from the alliance would have a limited effect on US military operations but a significant symbolic impact, the email argues.
The official did not disclose how the United States might pursue suspending Spain from the alliance.
Addressing reporters at the Pentagon earlier this month, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said ‘a lot has been laid bare’ by the war with Iran, noting that Iran’s longer-range missiles cannot hit the United States but can reach Europe.
‘We get questions, or roadblocks, or hesitations… You don’t have much of an alliance if you have countries that are not willing to stand with you when you need them,’ Hegseth said.
Taking questions from reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday, Trump said that the war aims to prevent Iran from causing a ‘nuclear holocaust’ in major European cities such as London.
The US President said: ‘I think that there’s nothing worse than a nuclear weapon that takes out one of your cities or two of your cities or three.
‘I think there’s nothing worse than a nuclear weapon that’s going to destroy the Middle East, including Israel. I think there’s nothing worse than Europe being under attack by people that have missiles now that reach Europe.’
On Iranian missile capabilities, Trump continued: ‘As you know, they don’t reach us, but they reach Europe. But they will reach us at some time, probably the not-too-distant future, unless we stop them now.
‘I think there would be nothing worse than having a nuclear Holocaust in Europe. London, Paris, various places in Germany, all targeted. What I say is you can’t let them have [a nuclear weapon].’
Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk has expressed doubt over whether the US would be ‘loyal’ to its NATO commitment to defend Europe in the event of a Russian attack, and called on the EU to become a ‘real alliance’ in protecting the continent.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Tusk said Europe’s ‘biggest, most important question is if the United States is ready to be as loyal as it is described in our [NATO] treaties’.
‘This is something really serious. I’m talking about short-term perspectives, rather months than years,’ he said, in reference to the future possibility of Russian aggression.
Poland is the biggest spender in the Western alliance by GDP, already meeting NATO’s 5 per cent target.
‘For the whole eastern flank, my neighbours… the question is if NATO is still an organisation ready, politically and also logistically, to react, for example against Russia if they try to attack,’ he said.
Tusk added that some countries in the US-led defence alliance ‘pretend[ed] that nothing happened’ when about 20 Russian drones violated Poland’s airspace last September.
He stressed that his comments should not be treated ‘as scepticism towards Article 5 [NATO’s mutual defence pledge], if it is valid or not, but rather as my dreams that guarantees on paper will change into something very practical’.