BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) – Argentina said yesterday boats sailing from its ports to the British-ruled Falkland Islands will need a government permit, deepening a row over oil exploration in the disputed archipelago.

Argentina will also demand permits for ships headed to the uninhabited South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands, over which the South American country also claims sovereignty.

Argentina protested to Britain earlier this month over plans to begin offshore exploration drilling near the remote Falklands, which are called the Islas Malvinas in Spanish. The nations fought a short war over the islands in 1982.

“Any boat that wants to travel between ports on the Argentine mainland to the Islas Malvinas, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands … must first ask for permission from the Argentine government,” Cabinet Chief Anibal Fernandez told a news conference in Buenos Aires.

He said a presidential decree would force all ships bound for the islands or traveling through waters claimed by Argentina to secure the new permit, which could affect the growing cruise ship industry based in the Patagonian port town of Ushuaia.

A British Embassy spokesman said it was up to Argentina to decide how to regulate its ports.

“The way in which Argentina applies its laws within Argentine territory is a matter for Argentina … the United Kingdom has no doubts about its sovereignty over the Falkland Islands and the surrounding maritime area,” he said.

Nearly three decades after the Falklands War that killed almost 1,000 people, tensions over the islands simmer and the start of oil exploration has raised the stakes in the sovereignty dispute.

Geologists think the area around the Falklands could hold rich energy reserves, although drilling in the North Falkland Basin in 1998 did not lead to investment in exploitation.

Falkland Oil and Gas Ltd said on Monday it had agreed with Desire Petroleum Plc to contract a rig to drill the first ever well in the East Falklands Basin.

The company said it expected the drilling to start within the first half of the year

Argentine officials blocked the loading of steel tubes onto a ship last week, saying the vessel had operated in the Falkland Islands and that there was evidence it had carried materials for use in the energy industry to the islands.