Argentina Denies Trump Mediation on Malvinas, Confirms Rubio Meeting at UN

Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno during a September 20 televised interview in which he addressed Trump's Malvinas comments and this week's UN meetings. Photo via Infobae.

By The Editors · September 20, 2026 · 2 min read

Key Facts

The quote:Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno said Argentina does not "see at this moment a mediation or something like that" from the United States on the Malvinas dispute.
The meeting:A Milei-Rubio bilateral is confirmed for this week's UN General Assembly; a separate meeting with Trump is not yet on the official agenda.
The speech:Milei is due to address the UN General Assembly on Wednesday, September 23.
The strategy:Quirno said Argentina is relying on its own economic leverage, including Vaca Muerta access, rather than waiting on US intervention.

Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno said Sunday that Argentina does not currently see the United States mediating its sovereignty dispute with the United Kingdom over the Malvinas (Falkland Islands), even as he confirmed that President Milei has a bilateral meeting scheduled with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio during this week's United Nations General Assembly.

In a televised interview, Quirno said President Trump's recent comments questioning US support for British sovereignty over the islands had raised the international profile of Argentina's claim, but he was careful to separate that attention from any formal US role in resolving the dispute. "Every time Malvinas is in the mouth of a president like Trump, it evidently gives it another relevance," he said, adding: "We are not seeing at this moment a mediation or something like that."

The UN Meetings

Quirno confirmed a Milei-Rubio meeting is on the schedule for the UN's high-level week, answering "yes" when asked directly by the interviewer. A separate bilateral with Trump himself was not on Argentina's official agenda as of Sunday, according to MDZ, which reported that Trump's calendar this week is already crowded with sit-downs involving Venezuelan opposition figure Delcy Rodriguez, UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and Gulf Cooperation Council leaders. Argentine officials, the outlet reported, are wary of being sidelined, particularly given the possibility of a Trump-Burnham photo opportunity at a moment when London and Buenos Aires are openly sparring over the islands.

Milei is scheduled to travel to New York on Monday and address the General Assembly on Wednesday, September 23, at midday.

Argentina's Own Strategy

Quirno framed Washington's attention as useful but incidental to a strategy Argentina says it is executing on its own. He pointed to the government's use of economic leverage, including access to the Vaca Muerta shale formation, to discourage international oil companies from taking part in hydrocarbon exploration near the islands. He said the government continues to pursue the return of sovereignty "through diplomatic dialogue" while also building up its military presence in the South Atlantic, a reference to the planned naval base at Ushuaia.

The exchange follows weeks of rising rhetoric on both sides. Milei has argued that the roughly 3,500 people living on the islands do not have a legitimate right to self-determination, a position Burnham has rejected, pledging in Parliament to be "relentless" in defending what Britain calls the Falkland Islanders' right to choose their own status. Trump, for his part, told an interviewer in Dublin earlier this month that he thought he "could" help settle the dispute and called a potential armed conflict over the islands a "disaster," comments that fell short of a concrete commitment from Washington.

Whether that ambiguity resolves into anything concrete this week depends less on Quirno's framing than on what happens once Milei is actually in New York — whether the Rubio meeting produces any substantive movement, and whether a Trump encounter materializes despite not being formally on the books.