Britain denies nuclear accusation

Argentina last night accused Britain of deploying nuclear weapons near the Falklands.

Foreign minister Hector Timerman made the claim as he urged the UN to intervene in the long-running dispute over the islands.

He said Buenos Aires had intelligence that a Vanguard submarine had been deployed in the area. “Thus far the UK refuses to say whether it is true or not,” he said.

“The information Argentina has is that there are these nuclear weapons.”

Mr Timerman accused Britain of using an “unjustified defence of self-determination” to maintain a military base on the Falklands, which allowed it to dominate the Atlantic. “It is perhaps the last refuge of a declining empire,” he insisted.

Britain’s ambassador to the UN, Sir Mark Lyall Grant, said the government did “not comment on the disposition of nuclear weapons”.

But he said the idea that Britain was “militarising” the situation was “manifestly absurd”.

“Before 1982 there was a minimal defence presence in the Falkland Islands,” he said.

“It is only because Argentina illegally invaded the Falkland Islands in 1982 that since then we had to increase our defence posture.

Sir Mark said Britain had been in the Falklands since before Argentina existed, and the islanders were entitled to self-determination.