Falklands War veteran Simon Weston said he hopes King Charles III can persuade US President Donald Trump to “back down” over reports the US might review its position on the UK’s claim to the islands.
Weston told BBC Newsnight that Trump’s “hissy fit” over sovereignty of the islands “makes our sacrifice feel slightly irrelevant” and that the president’s comments were “very unstatesmanlike”. He urged Trump to “back down and calm down”, saying islanders and veterans “deserve more respect”.
The report arose after Reuters published an internal Pentagon email suggesting the US was considering options to punish NATO allies it believed had failed to support its war on Iran. BBC News has not been able to review the email. The story emerged three days before King Charles and Queen Camilla’s state visit to the US.
Weston, who served as a Welsh Guardsman in the 1982 conflict between the UK and Argentina, warned against escalation, saying he did not want Argentina’s president, Javier Milei, to “raise his sleeves and believe that aggression may work because that would just cost more lives.”
Argentina has said it wants to reopen negotiations with the UK over the Falklands — known in Argentina as the Malvinas — but the UK is unlikely to agree. Sir Keir Starmer’s spokesman reiterated that “sovereignty rests with the UK, and the islanders’ right to self-determination is paramount.” Downing Street noted residents had voted overwhelmingly in a 2013 referendum to remain a British Overseas Territory: all but three of 1,672 eligible voters chose to stay, on a turnout above 90%.
The Falkland Islands government said it had “complete confidence in the commitment made by the UK government to uphold and defend our right of self-determination.”
A US State Department spokesperson told AFP that the US position remained “one of neutrality”, acknowledging “conflicting claims of sovereignty between Argentina and the UK” while recognising the “de facto United Kingdom administration” of the archipelago. Milei, a Trump ally, posted in capital letters on social media: “The Malvinas were, are, and always will be Argentine.” His foreign affairs minister also criticised exploration and extraction of natural resources around the islands, where there are significant oil fields.
