UK insists Falklands sovereignty ‘rests with UK’ after Trump threat to withdraw US backing

Downing Street has insisted that the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands is “not in question” following reports the US could review Britain’s claim to the Falkland Islands as revenge for a lack of support in the Iran war.

An internal Pentagon email set out options for Mr Trump’s administration to punish Nato allies for refusing to join the US-Israeli strikes against Iran.

The memo, first reported by Reuters, suggests reassessing US ‌diplomatic support for “imperial possessions” such as the Falklands.

But on Friday morning, No 10 insisted that “sovereignty rests with the UK”, adding that Britain will not be “pressured on the Iran war”.

It came as Admiral Lord West of Spithead – the commanding officer of HMS Ardent, a frigate that was sunk in the Falklands War – told The Independent the reports were an “insult to the autonomous, self-reliant and free people of the Falkland Islands”, adding: “How dare they!”

But he also dismissed the threats, saying that, militarily, losing US support for British sovereignty would have “no impact”.

“The recognition or otherwise by the US does not make the islands less secure,” the former Royal Navy commander-in-chief added.

Asked about the reports, the prime minister’s official 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 was also asked if Britain was ready to defend the islands from any threats, and replied: “The question of the Falkland Islands and the UK’s sovereignty and the islanders’ right to self-determination is not in question, and we’ve expressed that position clearly and consistently.”

Pressed further if the UK could defend the Falklands, he described the question as a “hypothetical”, adding: “That is not the situation we are in.”

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said a potential US policy review was “absolute nonsense”, and compared it to Donald Trump’s previous threat to annex Greenland.

“The Falkland Islands are British, they have been for a very long time. The sovereignty is British sovereignty,” she told broadcasters.

“I don’t know what Donald Trump is talking about. This sounds like the sort of thing he was saying when it came to Greenland.

“I don’t think we need to take it that seriously just yet, we need to make sure that we are very determined in protecting British sovereign territory, and that includes the Falkland Islands as well as Chagos.”

Now a British Overseas Territory, the Falkland Islands’ defence is provided by the United Kingdom at a permanent military base, RAF Mount Pleasant, which was built on the Falklands and opened in 1985 by the Duke of York.

The base, which is solely operated by British forces and is not shared with the US, is a key military asset, as it forms the centre of the British military’s presence in the South Atlantic, with between 1,300 and 1,700 military and civilian personnel based there at any one time.

The leaked memo, which includes an option to reassess US diplomatic support for longstanding European “imperial possessions”, such as the Falkland Islands, lays bare the tense relations between Britain and the Trump administration, which have broken down in the wake of the Iran war.

The islands are administered by the UK but are still claimed by Argentina, whose libertarian president, Javier Milei, is a Trump ally.

Britain and Argentina fought a brief war 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.

The US president has hit out repeatedly at Nato allies since he launched his offensive in Iran, branding the alliance a “paper tiger” and threatening to withdraw from the alliance altogether.

He has also repeatedly attacked Britain and Sir Keir Starmer, saying he was “no Winston Churchill” after he initially refused to grant a request from the US to attack Iran from British bases.

Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson said the US War Department will ensure Mr Trump “has credible options to ensure that our allies are no longer a paper tiger and instead do their part”.

“As President Trump has said, despite everything that the United States has done for our Nato allies, they were not there for us,” she said.

Mr Trump has also openly considered withdrawing from Nato, asking, “Wouldn’t you if you were me?” when questioned about the possibility of a US pullout earlier this month.