Global Security Newswire

British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg on Tuesday rejected as "baseless insinuations" a claim by Argentina's top diplomat that the United Kingdom has sent one of its nuclear-armed submarines to the South Atlantic, the London Telegraph reported (see GSN, Feb. 13).

Argentine Foreign Minister Hector Timerman said last month that a Vanguard-class vessel was sailing close to the disputed Falklands Islands, site of the two nations' 1982 war. Timerman said the presence of the submarine would constitute a breach of an international treaty intended to ban nuclear weapons from Latin America and the Caribbean.

The official raised the issue again on Tuesday at the Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul, South Korea (see related GSN story, today). An "extraregional power" sent a vessel "capable of carrying nuclear weapons" to the South Atlantic, according to Timerman.

That statement drew a firm response from Clegg, London's top official at the summit.

"These are unfounded, baseless insinuations," he said.

"As I'm sure our colleague from Argentina knows, the United Kingdom ratified the protocols to the [Treaty of Tlatelolco] in 1969 ... which guarantees a nuclear weapons-free zone covering Latin America and the Caribbean," Clegg added. "We have respected those obligations since 1969 and we will continue to do so" (London Telegraph, March 27).