Argentine President Javier Milei instructed Argentina’s Foreign Ministry and legal teams to initiate international arbitration against the U.K. over the Sea Lion oil project near the U.K.-controlled Falkland Islands, which Argentina calls Las Malvinas. He gave Britain two weeks to halt what he described as illegal resource exploitation, warning that Argentina would take the dispute to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. Sea Lion, a joint venture between Britain’s Rockhopper Exploration and Israel’s Navitas Petroleum, is located about 130 miles (209 kilometers) from the islands and is estimated to contain 1.7 billion barrels of oil. The companies say their licences, issued by Britain and the Falkland Islands, are valid. The source says extraction is due to begin within two years, while earlier reporting cited in the existing record put production in 2028. The move intensifies a sovereignty dispute rooted in Argentina’s 1982 invasion and the subsequent 74-day war; in a 2013 referendum, 99.8% of island residents voted to remain a British overseas territory.