Argentina ? Argentina on Monday marked the 25th anniversary of its failed attempt to regain the Falkland Islands, reasserting its claim to the South Atlantic archipelago.

“Neither war nor the passage of time changes reality: The Malvinas are Argentine,” said Vice President Daniel Scioli, using the islands’ Argentine name, as 5,000 people, many of them veterans of the 1982 war with Britain, applauded.

“We call upon the United Kingdom to heed international calls and resume negotiations,” Scioli said during the ceremony in Argentina’s southernmost city of Ushuaia – 440 miles southwest of the islands.

Scioli said Argentina hopes to regain the islands though peaceful, diplomatic channels.

President Nestor Kirchner was originally designated the keynote speaker but canceled without explanation.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair met veterans of the Falklands conflict aboard a warship Monday, while former premier Margaret Thatcher laid a wreath for the fallen at a private ceremony at St. Paul’s Cathedral. The ceremony was one of many planned throughout the year to mark the conflict.