"The United Kingdom must ask our forgiveness," Kirchner said on Saturday, a day after Britain's Ministry of Defence said warships used during the war had carried nuclear depth charges, although not inside Falklands waters.

A Foreign Office spokesman -- while refusing to comment on the specific demand -- reiterated that no nuclear weapons were taken anywhere near Argentina.

"Nuclear weapons on board ships were carried routinely at that time, but there were no nuclear weapons in Argentine waters," he told AFP.

"They were taken off before they got to Argentine waters."

Asked whether any of the British ships sunk during the 10-week conflict had been carrying nuclear weapons, the spokesman said this was not possible.

"As I indicated before, the nuclear weapons were taken off en route to the South Atlantic."

He added: "What I would categorically say is that there was no question of us using nuclear weapons in the Falklands dispute."

On Friday, London said that while no nuclear arms entered the Falklands' territorial waters, it was likely they entered a 200-mile (322-kilometer) exclusion zone set up around the islands in 1982 by the British navy.

The conflict, sparked by Argentina's invasion of what is considers its own territory, claimed the lives of 648 Argentine soldiers and 255 British troops.

WAR.WIRE