Why occupying Ascension Island would have delayed the Falklands campaign

How would an Argentine occupation of Ascension Island have changed the Falklands War?

Britain would first have had to retake the vital staging island, delaying the campaign and probably increasing international opposition to Argentina.

Ascension is treated as a vulnerable but indispensable staging point rather than a heavily defended fortress. An Argentine occupation would have forced Britain to retake it before using the island to support operations farther south, delaying the Falklands campaign much as South Georgia was handled before the main landing. The answer also argues that attacking territory to which Argentina made no comparable claim would have looked like unambiguous expansion and could have drawn stronger American and international opposition. The outcome is still expected to favor Britain, but with another landing, a longer sequence, and wider diplomatic consequences.