Downing Street has said that sovereignty over the Falkland Islands “belongs to the United Kingdom”, following a report that the US could reconsider its position on the British claim to the territory.
The same internal Pentagon email, which was first reported by Reuters, suggested measures the US could pursue in retaliation against allies it believed had failed to support its campaign in Iran.
Asked about the report, a British government spokesman said: “The Falkland Islands voted overwhelmingly in favour of remaining a UK overseas territory and we have always supported the islanders’ right to self-determination and the fact that sovereignty lies with the UK.”
The British Prime Minister’s official spokesman also said that the government “could not be clearer about the UK’s position” and that “sovereignty rests with the UK and the right of the islanders to self-determination is paramount.”
He continued: “We have made this position clear and consistent to successive US administrations before and nothing will change that.” BBC News has contacted the Pentagon about the reported email.
The Falkland Islands review was one of a number of measures suggested in the email, including that the US could seek to suspend Spain from the NATO military alliance because of its strong opposition to the Iran war.
A NATO official told the BBC that the organization’s founding treaty “does not contain any provision for the suspension of NATO membership or expulsion.”
Earlier, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said: “We do not work based on emails. We work with official documents and official positions held, in this case, by the United States government.”