‘You weren’t there to help me’: Trump hints he wouldn’t back Britain if Argentina invaded the Falklands – as he jibes that the country ‘isn’t doing well’

Donald Trump has hinted he would not back Britain if Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands again.

The US president jibed that the UK ‘isn’t doing well’ and had failed to ‘help’ with the military campaign against Iran.

The comments came as Argentina’s firebrand president Javier Milei – a close ally of Mr Trump – prepares to make a TV address on the ‘sacred’ issue of the disputed archipelago.

The US has traditionally taken a neutral position regarding the Falklands, which Argentina calls the Malvinas.

But Mr Trump recently suggested that the stance is being reviewed, in what many regard as a pressure tactic to get more UK military cooperation. 

Asked in an interview with GB News today whether he would ‘come to the aid’ of the UK in the event of another invasion, Mr Trump said he clearly remembered the 1982 conflict. 

‘I was there when they had the first war, that was a long time ago… you comported yourself very well, took it back very shortly. But it is a long way away,’ he said.

‘So, your country’s not doing well. Don’t forget you get a big percentage of your oil from the Strait of Hormuz and you weren’t there to help me. 

‘Your country was not there to help me.’

During Keir Starmer’s premiership, the UK initially refused to take part in the US-Israeli offensive against Iran. 

Sir Keir later authorised forces to support ‘defensive’ strikes against targets such as missile launchers.

However, the UK did not agree to Mr Trump’s call to send the Navy to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. A fifth of global oil and gas supplies typically pass through the waterway, but Iran blockaded it in response to the attacks. 

A furious Mr Trump branded Sir Keir ‘no Churchill’ and insisted he had refused a British offer to send an aircraft carrier to the region because it came too late. Ministers denied such an offer had been made.  

The UK Government has been adamant that sovereignty of the Falklands is not in doubt. In a referendum of islanders in 2013, 99.8 per cent voted to stay British, with a turnout of 92 per cent.  

Argentine forces attempted to seize control of the Falklands in 1982, which resulted in Britain’s then-prime minister Margaret Thatcher sending a naval task force to reclaim them.

The war left 649 Argentines, 255 Britons and three islanders dead.

In his post on Monday, Mr Milei teed up a TV address happening tonight about a ‘SACRED issue for Argentines: the Malvinas cause’.

‘What cause more important and strategic for the vital interests of the Nation could there be than the Malvinas cause?’ he wrote. 

Tensions over the Falklands could form an awkward backdrop for Andy Burnham’s first encounter with Mr Trump.

The PM has said he is likely to head for New York later this month to attend the UN General Assembly. 

He suggested he would lobby the president for more support for Ukraine, although it is unclear whether Mr Trump will be in New York or Mr Burnham would make another stop in Washington. 

Another threat to the UK’s sovereignty over the Falklands comes in the form of a lawsuit announced by Argentine groups on Tuesday to halt a British-Israeli oil project off the coast. 

The so-called Sea Lion oil field involves Britain’s Rockhopper Exploration and Israel’s Navitas Petroleum, who seek to establish a large-scale oil operation about 137 miles from the Falklands, according to the war veterans and environmental lawyers who are suing to stop the project.

The project violates a United Nations resolution stating that unilateral actions must be avoided while a territorial dispute is ongoing, plaintiffs said.

Although the project is being carried out in a British-controlled area, they argue that a decision by local courts could affect its progress.

The complaint seeks to ensure that the companies ‘refrain from starting and/or continuing the works… as well as from initiating the extraction and exploitation of hydrocarbons’, lawyer Enrique Viale told AFP.

The Falklands question remains painful for many Argentines.

During the World Cup semi-final against England in July, some Argentine footballers held up a banner saying ‘Las Malvinas are Argentine’ after beating their foe 2-1.

After the display, a Downing Street spokesman responded: ‘the World Cup might not be ours, but the Falkland Islands definitely are.’