MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Republican operative's proposal for US support on Malvinas electrifies Argentine media

The assertion about an Argentine naval deployment is false

A social media post by Republican operative Marc Zell urging the Trump administration to reconsider its position on the Falklands/Malvinas and support Argentina's sovereignty claim triggered a wave of coverage across Argentine media over the past week, despite being based on a false premise and carrying no official backing from Washington.

Zell, vice-president of Republicans Overseas and chair of the Republican Party in Israel — who holds no position in the Trump administration — posted on X on March 18 that Argentina was sending naval units to safeguard shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, while the United Kingdom had refused. He proposed that Washington should reverse its historical policy and back the Argentine claim to the islands.

Argentina is sending naval units to assist the U.S. in safeguarding international shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. The UK has refused. In 1982 President Reagan came to the aid of then PM Margaret Thatcher who was defending the UK colony in the Falkland Islands, claimed by…

— Marc Zell - מארק צל (@GOPIsrael) March 18, 2026

The assertion about an Argentine naval deployment is false. Journalist Eduardo Feinmann had interviewed Chancellor Pablo Quirno, who flatly denied any such deployment. “Nobody asked us for anything; if they ask, we'll see,” Quirno told Feinmann, who described Zell's claims as entirely fabricated. Zell's post accumulated 1.6 million views, 18,000 likes and over 3,000 reposts.

Despite the denial, the proposal spread rapidly. Newsweek Argentina, Infofueguina, and El Economista all published extensive coverage. The analytical outlet Escenario Mundial published a piece on March 22 titled “Malvinas and Trump, the British limit in the Argentina-United States relationship,” arguing that the Milei-Trump relationship hits its ceiling when it collides with the historical structure of the Anglo-American bond. The analysis drew a comparison with the Chagos Islands case and concluded that London's decisions respond more to geopolitical calculations than to uniform criteria across its overseas territories.

The debate unfolds against the backdrop of broader Washington-London tensions over the Strait of Hormuz crisis, and Argentina's ongoing military modernisation, which includes the delivery of refurbished Danish F-16 fighters. However, there has been no official statement from the White House, the State Department or Congress indicating any shift in policy on Falklands/Malvinas sovereignty.

The United States maintains a formal position of neutrality on sovereignty while recognising British administration of the archipelago.