text: Argentina has branded British attempts to explore the seas around the Falklands Islands for oil ‘illegitimate’ and says it will mount a legal challenge – but has ruled out another conflict. Daniel Filmus, Argentina’s secretary of state for the islands, told an event in London that Britain’s decision to increase military spending in the South Atlantic was ‘gunboat diplomacy’. Mr Filmus said military conflict ‘belongs to the past’ and claimed: ‘The United Kingdom can count on Argentina as an ally.’ Argentina has branded British attempts to explore the seas around the Falklands Islands for oil ‘illegitimate’ But he added: ‘The unilateral and illegitimate appropriation of non-renewable natural resources that is being carried out by the UK in the South Atlantic has been the subject of continued protest by the Argentine Republic. ‘Argentina has been forced to resort to defensive measures,’ he said, using ‘the law and political action as its main tools in order to protect the natural resources in the area under dispute’. He said Argentinian judicial authorities would consider the case against British companies involved in the oil exploration. Addressing the question of possible future conflict, Mr Filmus said: ‘Argentina bears no grudge against the inhabitants of the islands in spite of all the manoeuvres designed to prove otherwise. 'What Argentina is not going to do is give in. We do not wish to spend another penny on arms. It is through negotiations that we will solve this. 'We do not know how many years it will take... But what justification can there be for mothers crying over the deaths of their sons? It really must be dialogue.’ Daniel Filmus's comments sparked a furious reaction from Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond (pictured) Mr Filmus’s comments sparked a furious reaction from Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, who told Sky News: ‘It is an outrageous piece of bullying and threatening against the Falkland islanders’ perfect right to develop their own economic resources and Argentina needs to stop this kind of behaviour and start acting like a responsible member of the international community.’ Britain defeated Argentina in a 1982 war over the South Atlantic islands and administers them as an overseas territory, whose population of around 3,000 voted overwhelmingly to remain under British rule in a referendum in 2013. Argentina says it is the rightful owner of the islands, which it calls Las Malvinas, a claim dating back centuries to the Spanish colonial era. The dispute has escalated in recent years with the discovery of oil and gas deposits.
target: Argentina claims British exploration around Falklands for oil is ‘illegitimate’
  The country says it will mount a legal challenge but has ruled out a conflict .
  Comment sparks furious reaction from Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond .