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Getty IMAGES<\/p>\nDowning Street told President Trump on Friday that Britain\u2019s control of the Falkland Islands was \u201cnot in question\u201d after a leaked Pentagon memo suggested America could back Argentina\u2019s claim to the territory.<\/p>\n
The internal email outlined options for the United States to punish European allies who had not given their backing to the president\u2019s war on Iran.<\/p>\n
This included reassessing diplomatic support for longstanding European \u201cimperial possessions\u201d, such as the Falklands, 300 miles from mainland Argentina. Another option was the suspension of Spain from Nato.<\/p>\n
Getty IMAGES<\/p>\n
Kingsley Wilson, the Pentagon press secretary, said: \u201cAs President Trump has said, despite everything that the United States has done for our Nato allies, they were not there for us.<\/p>\n
\u201c[We] 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
The row threatens to overshadow the King\u2019s four-day state visit to Washington next week to mark the 250th anniversary of American independence.<\/p>\n
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Sir Keir Starmer\u2019s spokesman said Britain \u201ccould not be clearer\u201d in its backing for the self-determination of the islands. \u201cWe\u2019ve expressed this position to successive US administrations,\u201d the spokesman said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe question of the Falkland Islands and the UK\u2019s sovereignty and the islanders\u2019 right to self-determination is not in question, and we\u2019ve expressed that position clearly and consistently.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stephen Doughty, a Foreign Office minister, later added: \u201cThe Falkland Islands are British.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump has repeatedly attacked Starmer<\/a> for withholding the use of RAF bases for offensive strikes on Iran. However, a senior UK government figure said ministers had been blindsided by the leaked memo and were attempting to confirm whether it represented an official plan to change America\u2019s position on the Falklands, which has been one of neutrality.<\/p>\n Defence and foreign policy experts told The Times that the Pentagon email represented an implicit threat from the US that it would support Argentina\u2019s claim to the islands.<\/p>\n Whitehall officials said it could also reflect a difference in stance between the US State Department and the Pentagon. State Department officials have told British diplomats they were unaware of any plans by the administration to withdraw support for UK sovereignty over the islands.<\/p>\n Argentinian forces staged an invasion of the Falklands in 1982, rapidly overcoming a small garrison of British marines and claiming the territory as its own.<\/p>\n A British military taskforce quickly mobilised and Argentina was forced to surrender ten weeks later. Some 649 Argentinian soldiers and 255 British troops died in the conflict, in which several ships sank with crew on board, as well as three islanders.<\/p>\n Fewer than 1,000 British troops are now stationed on the Falklands, with four Typhoon aircraft. Meanwhile, Argentina is upgrading its military capabilities with the help of Nato allies, including the US, which is supplying missiles.<\/p>\n Three weeks ago Argentina\u2019s leader President Milei, an ally of Trump, reasserted his country\u2019s sovereignty claim over the islands, known in Argentina as the Malvinas, and called for negotiations with Britain.<\/p>\n Sir Grant Shapps, the former defence secretary, said Starmer\u2019s decision to surrender sovereignty of the Chagos Islands<\/a> to Mauritius had not helped the government\u2019s case. <\/p>\n \u201cThere have now been 19 defence secretaries since John Nott offered his resignation when the Falklands were invaded in 1982,\u201d Shapps said. \u201cEvery secretary of state since, myself included, has understood the need to pay particular attention to threats to the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands, from whatever direction those threats come. The situation today is no different.\u201d However, he added that after the \u201coffering up\u201d of \u201cother British territories, some people may have got the wrong idea about our determination to keep the Falklands British\u201d.<\/p>\n Mark Francois, the shadow armed forces minister, said: \u201cThe fact the Americans could even be contemplating this shows just how far their relations have deteriorated<\/a> with Sir Keir Starmer\u2019s struggling government in recent months.\u201d<\/p>\n Simon Weston, who suffered 46 per cent burns when his ship, the Sir Galahad, was bombed during the Falklands conflict, told Times Radio the islands had \u201cnothing to do with Mr Trump\u201d and that the president \u201ccan\u2019t be a schoolyard bully forever\u201d.<\/p>\n A Falkland Islands government spokesman said: \u201cSelf-determination is a fundamental human right enshrined in article one, paragraph two of the charter of the United Nations.\u201d<\/p>\n The spokesman pointed out that in 2013 the islands held an internationally observed referendum in which 99.8 per cent of voters, on a turnout of 92 per cent, voted in favour of remaining an overseas territory of the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Falkland Islands has complete confidence in the commitment made by the UK Government to uphold and defend our right of self-determination,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Some had feared that Milei would try to use his support of Trump\u2019s Board of Peace<\/a> to push the case for Argentinian sovereignty over the Falklands. However, while Milei was on record saying that Argentina would never relinquish its claim, he had also said he wanted the future of the islands to be decided by negotiation, taking into account the wishes of the population.<\/p>\n![\"Helmets](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/61d3cf91-b976-4ff2-b47e-a11ba5652dd5.jpg\")
Steel helmets abandoned by Argentinian troops who surrendered at Goose GreenPA<\/p>\n![\"Red](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1b8ff4dd-3031-4df6-b718-9b8b69ac1d77.jpg\")
The post office on Ross Road in Stanley, the islands\u2019 capitalMartin Lindsay\/ALAMY<\/p>\n