Argentina

This is getting silly. More posturing. In lieu of war, perhaps they should play a best of 3 Rugby series to determine which nation has the oil rights for that fiscal year?

"This is modern defence diplomacy in action," an MoD official said. "The warships are there to protect the UK interests in the South Atlantic. If the Argentines were interfere with the free movement of shipping on the high seas that would be illegal and we would make a decision to use our deterrence force.

"At the end of the day if the Argentines decide to up the ante and the Foreign Office agreed that our interests were being challenged we are there to stop that."

Argentinian officials have revived the country's claims to sovereignty over Falklands as it contests British claims on the potentially lucrative deep sea oilfields within the islands 200-mile economic zone.

Jorge Taiana, Argentina's foreign minister, scheduled a meeting with Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary general, next week to discuss British failure to comply with resolutions calling for a "discussion" of sovereignty.

"What they're doing is illegitimate," Mr Taiana said. "It's a violation of our sovereignty. We will do everything necessary to defend and preserve our rights."

British diplomats have accused the Argentine government of posturing in order to gain a negotiating toehold on the future revenues from an oil find.