Niall Horan has broken his silence after sparking backlash from fans in Argentina over an Instagram ‘like’ that was interpreted as mocking the country’s long-running claim to the Falkland Islands.

The former One Direction star found himself at the centre of an online storm after appearing to like a post about Argentina’s conduct during the Men’s World Cup.

While much of the carousel featured football-related jokes, the final slide showed an edited image reading ‘Las Malvinas son Españolas’ (‘The Malvinas are Spanish’) – a play on the phrase ‘Las Malvinas son Argentinas’, which holds deep political and historical significance in Argentina.

The sovereignty of the Falkland Islands, known as the Islas Malvinas in Argentina, has long been disputed between the UK and Argentina, making the image far more controversial than the football memes that preceded it.

As screenshots of the apparent like circulated online, some Argentinian fans accused the Irish singer of endorsing the message.

One fan account said the situation had gone beyond football rivalry, writing: ‘We don’t care about football jokes… but we do care about that last image.’

The account added: ‘We can’t ignore Niall’s like, which has now gone viral.’

Others were more critical, with one fan claiming Niall had ‘made it clear he hates Argentinians’, while another said he had ‘let down all his Argentinian fans.’

Rather than ignore the criticism, the Mullingar native responded directly beneath the fan account’s post to explain what had happened.

‘Honest mistake,’ he wrote.

‘Truly didn’t even realise I’d liked the post and don’t even remember seeing it. I have nothing but love for Argentina and all my fans there.’

Many fans welcomed the singer’s response, praising him for addressing the controversy directly and clarifying that there had been no political intent behind the interaction.

Others, however, continued to debate whether the Instagram like had been accidental.

The controversy comes just days after Argentina’s World Cup semi-final victory over England, when several players held up a banner reading ‘Las Malvinas son Argentinas’, prompting calls from UK politicians for FIFA to investigate whether the celebration breached rules on political messaging.