Argentina mocks UK's 'colonial' claim as Falklands oil fight hits tribunal

Marcelo Kohen, arguing for Argentina at the international tribunal for the law of the sea in Hamburg, ridiculed Britain for invoking what he called a 17th-century doctrine of ocean sovereignty. He told the panel that the dispute over the Malvinas does not turn the surrounding waters into a legal free-for-all under a British crown. Argentina wants the tribunal to order Britain to halt drilling in the North Basin, about 130 miles from the islands, while arbitration continues.

The target is the Sea Lion oilfield. Argentina's team called suspension urgent, citing irreparable damage to its rights, and said production is due to start in March next year and could double the islands' GDP. Kohen said the hydrocarbons would lift the roughly 700-island archipelago into the top ranks of wealth, just below Monaco, while stripping Argentina of its claim to those resources.

Britain pushed back a day earlier. Attorney general for England and Wales Ellie Reeves argued Argentina was using the case to advance its sovereignty ambitions, and that stopping the project would have disastrous consequences for Falkland Islanders and the companies involved. The UK also argues the tribunal has no jurisdiction to touch sovereignty at all — and no reason to rush, since actual extraction would not begin until 2028, by which time an arbitration panel would have weighed in.

Kohen accused the UK of dodging the elephant in the room — or, as he put it, the whale in the bathtub. He noted the UN treats the Falklands as a non-self-governing territory and in 1976 urged both sides to avoid unilateral moves before the sovereignty question was settled.

In closing remarks to the panel of 20 judges, Argentina's foreign ministry legal adviser Mario Oyarzábal rejected the UK's framing. The question, he said, is narrower: whether Britain may unilaterally authorise new drilling in a disputed maritime area while the underlying dispute stays unresolved.

President Javier Milei has leaned in hard, sharing a photo of the legal team in Hamburg with his cabinet and calling it tremendous, adding that his government is working the Falklands issue like no one else in history. He recently told the UN general assembly that reclaiming the islands is a national cause. Argentina invaded in 1982 under dictator Gen Leopoldo Galtieri; the 74-day conflict killed 649 Argentinian military personnel, 255 British military personnel and three Falkland Islanders. The UK files further submissions on Wednesday.