Sean Penn: Prince William is provoking Argentina

(CBS/AP) MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay - Sean Penn is speaking up again about the Falklands, blasting the deployment of Britain's Prince William to the islands. In return, the British media are coming out against the Oscar-winning actor for speaking his mind.

Penn is accusing British media of pushing for war instead of diplomacy to resolve the United Kingdom's dispute with Argentina over the islands both countries claim in the far South Atlantic.

"It's unthinkable that the United Kingdom can make a conscious decision to deploy a prince within the military to the Malvinas, knowing the great emotional sensitivity both of mothers and fathers in the United Kingdom and in Argentina who lost sons and daughters in a war over islands with a population of so few," Penn said.

Britain denies it is militarizing the dispute, and notes that William is serving simply as a search-and-rescue helicopter pilot. Penn called it a provocation nonetheless.

"There are many places to deploy a prince," he said. "It's not necessary when the deployment of a prince is generally accompanied by a warship, to send them into seas of such spilled blood."

Britain says it will never negotiate with Argentina as long as the Falklanders want to be British. It has sent Prince William on a six-week air force mission to the islands, along with its most powerful destroyer, the HMS Dauntless. The British government also hasn't denied reports that it sent a nuclear submarine, possibly with nuclear missiles, to the disputed southern seas.

London's conservative Daily Mail quoted a member of parliament, Patrick Mercer, as saying Penn should stay out of the Falklands dispute.

"What on earth has this got to do with Sean Penn? He's neither British nor Argentine and seems to know nothing about the situation," Mercer said. "A good number of his movies have been turkeys, so I suppose we shouldn't expect much better coming out of his mouth."

Penn, who runs a Haiti relief organization and was named "ambassador at large" by Haiti's government, made his comments after meeting with President Jose Mujica of Uruguay, which contributes to the U.N. peacekeeping force in Haiti.