Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno said Sunday that Argentina sees no US mediation in the Malvinas (Falkland Islands) dispute, but confirmed Milei will meet US Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the UN this week.
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 separated 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."
Washington's attention, Quirno said, is useful but incidental to a strategy Argentina 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 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.
Quirno answered "yes" when the interviewer asked directly whether a Milei-Rubio meeting is on the schedule for the UN's high-level week. A separate bilateral with Trump 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 meetings involving Venezuelan opposition figure Delcy Rodriguez, UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and Gulf Cooperation Council leaders, and that Argentine officials are wary of being sidelined, particularly if Trump and Burnham get a photo opportunity while London and Buenos Aires openly spar over the islands.
Milei is scheduled to travel to New York on Monday and address the General Assembly at midday on Wednesday, September 23.