Will World’s “Most Zionist President”, Javier Milei, Deploy Argentina’s Navy for Trump’s Kamikaze Strait of Hormuz Mission?

We thought no head of state was mad enough to volunteer for such a mission. Maybe we were wrong.

As Yves reported in her daily update on the Iran War on Tuesday, “none of the US’ putative (ex-Israel) allies are willing to bail him out of the mess he created, by sending naval assets on a suicidal mission to try to open the Strait of Hormuz to all traffic”. The FT’s Martin Wolf went some way to explaining why in his article, “Trump Broke It. Now He Owns It“:

“The only thing prohibiting transit in the straits right now is Iran shooting at shipping. It is open for transit, should Iran not do that.”

This staggering remark from “secretary of war” Pete Hegseth explains why none of the US allies being asked to join in the fight to reopen the Strait of Hormuz are prepared to do so: they were not consulted; this is not a Nato operation; and, above all, the people in charge are plainly careless.

In the past 24 hours, seven US allies (the UK, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Canada and Japan) have signed a joint statement announcing their support for the creation of a coalition to reopen the strait of Hormuz for commercial ships and oil tankers. Conspicuously absent from that statement is any commitment to send naval vessels or other resources to actually make that happen. It’s not hard to see why.

In his latest conversation with Daniel Davis, John Mearsheimer likened any US attempt to force open the Strait of Hormuz to the allied forces’ disastrous 1915 Gallipoli campaign, which coincidentally resulted in roughly 220,000 casualties on the allied side (out of a force of almost 500,000), according to the UK’s National Army Museum.

In other words, you’d have to be stark raving mad to even contemplate such a mission. This sort of level of madness:

Cometh the Hour, Cometh the Man

In Javier Milei, Argentina has a national leader that not only fits that description to a tee but also prides himself on being the world’s “most Zionist president”, even as the Zionist project brings the world to the brink of World War III. According to one Israeli source, Milei has already offered to send part of Argentina’s threadbare naval fleet into battle.

On Wednesday, Marc Zell, an American-Israeli lawyer and chairman of Republicans Overseas Israel, posted a tweet claiming that Argentina “is sending” naval units to the Strait of Hormuz to collaborate with the US in the conflict with Iran. Zoll proposed that, in return, Washington should support Argentina’s claim to the Falkland Islands (Malvinas). In other words, screw the Brits:

Argentina is sending naval units to assist the U.S. in safeguarding international shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. The UK has refused. In 1982 President Reagan came to the aid of then PM Margaret Thatcher who was defending the UK colony in the Falkland Islands, claimed by Argentina which refers to them as the Malvinas Islands. In light of the UK’s cowardly refusal to support the US in the Persian Gulf conflict, I think it only appropriate for the Trump Administration to consider reversing US policy on the Falklands and support the Argentinian claim.

So, the Trump administration will purportedly now be urged by this prominent Israeli lobbyist (and perhaps others) to reverse US policy on the Falklands (Malvinas) and support the Argentinian claim — all in retaliation for the UK’s refusal to send its own depleted naval fleet on a kamikaze mission to the Strait. This is despite the fact that UK airbases have been at the heart of the US’ bomber operations against Iran — for “defensive” purposes only, of course.

Zell’s claims regarding Argentina are as yet unsubstantiated. There has so far been no official confirmation from the Milei government that it is willing to deploy naval units in the Strait of Hormuz. What’s more, Argentina’s Constitution holds that any decision of this type must go through Congress, and so far no efforts have been made in that direction.

In other words, this could be one big fat piece of fake news, intended to put additional pressure on the US’ traditional military allies in Europe, Asia and North America. That said, the Milei government has shown no compunction about bypassing Congress before, including when it donated Argentine weapons to Ukraine’s war effort last year. Also, recent off-the-cuff remarks from government officials suggest that Milei is more than open to the idea.

“If the United States requests it, yes. Any help they consider will be given,” government spokesman Javier Lanari told Spain’s El Mundo, adding that as yet no formal request had been made. This is perhaps due to the small size and decrepit state of Argentina’s naval fleet.[1]

Argentina’s Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno has also refused to rule out speculation that the Milei government is considering sending two warships to the Persian Gulf to support the US-Israeli war effort.

“We should not talk about rumours but about certainties,” Quirno said. “Everyone knows where we stand.”

The national senator for Milei’s party, Freedom Advances, and former security minister, Patricia Bullrich, put it in starker terms:

“A lot has happened with Iran in our country. We have had two attacks against two institutions (NC: in reference to the 1992 suicide bombing of the Israeli embassy and the 1994 attack on the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association centre). This war has roots here… We are not getting into someone else’s far-off war, we are going against someone who already attacked Argentina.”

“The World’s Most Zionist President”

As for Milei himself, he has made it crystal clear where his loyalties lie in the latest West Asian conflict. In a recent visit to the US — his 15th since taking office just over two years ago — Milei described Iran as “an enemy of Argentina”, said that “we will win the war”, and proudly crowned himself “the world’s most Zionist president”.

In a talk at the Yeshiva University in New York, Milei did not mince his words. “I don’t like Iran,” he said, adding:  “They bombed us twice, once at the AMIA and again at the Israeli Embassy. Therefore, let’s say, they are our enemies. But I also have a strategic alliance with the United States and Israel.”

Milei did not provide any evidence of Iranian involvement in the aforementioned attacks. Meanwhile, a new opinion poll by the consultancy firm Zuban Córdoba suggests that 7 out of 10 Argentines oppose the country’s involvement in the US-Israeli war against Iran.

Their main concerns are probably closer to home, especially as Milei’s chainsaw economics has shrunk domestic industry to pre-WW2 levels, according to a new study by the University of Buenos Aires. In just over two years, more than 100,000 jobs have been lost in industrial sectors as more than 22,000 factories and companies have hit the wall.

Meanwhile, the heat is rising on Milei as fresh allegations suggest he and his sister, Karina, pocketed $5 million to promote the LIBRA meme coin that ended up stiffing “investors” out of hundreds of millions of dollars. As the Buenos Aires Herald notes, the $LIBRA scandal is the biggest threat Milei faces.

Like Trump, Argentina’s president needs a diversion from growing problems at home. Which may explain why Milei keeps acting as if Argentina is already part of the war effort. In an act to commemorate the 34th anniversary of the attack on the Israeli embassy in Argentina a couple of days ago, Milei said that “in the face of terrorism there can be no truce”:

The ceremony, in commemoration of the attack that occurred in 1992, causing 29 deaths and more than 250 wounded, was held in the place where the embassy was located, in the Buenos Aires neighbourhood of Retiro, under the slogan “The first time is not forgotten.”

…

He maintained that our country “faces terrorism,” and described the State of Israel as “a sister nation that shares the same values as ours.”

Those “shared” values…

Shifting Allegiances

Boasting the world’s sixth-largest Jewish population, of around 300,000, Argentina has traditionally been a close ally of Israel. In fact, the southern Argentinian region of Patagonia was on the short-list of candidates for the founding of a Jewish state in the late 19th century.

Relations between the two countries have only got stronger since Milei, an aspiring Jewish convert with close ties to the highly influential Chabad Lubavitch movement, took over as president in December 2023. A Roman Catholic by upbringing, Milei not only wants to convert to Judaism when he leaves politics, he has also claimed to have Jewish heritage.

Milei has made two official visits to Israel since coming to office where he wailed at the wall (on both occasions), danced and sang with Israeli settlers as Israeli bombs rained down on Gaza, and unveiled plans to move his country’s embassy to Jerusalem.

Milei has also signed a memorandum of understanding with Israel that sets the stage for unprecedented cooperation in counter-terrorism and economic activity, establishing fast-track customs lanes, joint satellite launches and water technology centres on the Paraná River, Argentina’s most important trade and transport waterway. It also enables the payment of welfare benefits to Israeli citizens with residency permits in Argentina.

When Israel and Iran locked horns in April 2024, Milei called an immediate cabinet meeting in Buenos Aires that he then allowed Israel’s ambassador to Argentina to effectively chair, as we reported in “Javier Milei Seems Intent on Embroiling Argentina in War, Whether in Ukraine or the Middle East (Or Both)“. After that meeting, Milei told a veteran journalist off record that Argentina “cannot be neutral in the Third World War.”

The Third World War may have already begun, and it is clear which side Milei is on…

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