Chagos handover in limbo after Trump softens on deal, bill pulled from UK Parliament
Every delay has consequences.
A single island in the Indian Ocean is causing a nightmare for government officials on both sides of the Atlantic.
President Donald Trump reversed his position on the United Kingdom’s plan to cede Chagos Islands sovereignty to the country of Mauritius following what he called “very productive discussions” with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Trump said on Thursday that he now understands the U.K. leader’s deal is “the best he could make,” despite having previously called the move “an act of great stupidity.” However, he warned that if the planned handover ever compromises U.S. military operations, he will not hesitate to act in America’s interests.
“If the lease deal, sometime in the future, ever falls apart, or anyone threatens or endangers U.S. operations and forces at our Base, I retain the right to Militarily secure and reinforce the American presence in Diego Garcia,” Trump wrote.
President Donald Trump greets U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer during a summit to support ending the more than two-year Israel-Hamas war in Gaza after a breakthrough ceasefire deal, Monday, Oct. 13, 2025, in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, Pool)
A spokeswoman for 10 Downing Street affirmed that Trump and Starmer “agreed on the importance of the deal to secure the joint UK–US base on Diego Garcia, which remains vital to shared security interests.”
Bizarrely, a vote on the bill to hand over the islands was pulled from the parliamentary calendar not long before Trump made his Truth Social post — delaying it until Feb. 23 at the earliest.
The Chagos Islands are an archipelago in the Indian Ocean that became a British territory in 1814, along with neighboring Mauritius. They were split from Mauritius in 1965, ahead of Mauritius’s declaration of independence from Britain in 1968.
The largest island in the Chagos archipelago, Diego Garcia, is home to a joint base operated by the United States and the U.K. — a development that forced thousands of Chagossians to be relocated to Mauritius and the U.K.
Mauritius has been litigating the U.K. over the situation for decades, eventually taking the case to the International Court of Justice in 2018.
Since then, the British government has worked tirelessly to carve out a deal that satisfies Mauritius without losing its defensive foothold. The current deal framework would cede sovereignty but lease the Diego Garcia base for 99 years, ban other nations from utilizing nearby islands without British consent, and …
Every delay has consequences.
A single island in the Indian Ocean is causing a nightmare for government officials on both sides of the Atlantic.
President Donald Trump reversed his position on the United Kingdom’s plan to cede Chagos Islands sovereignty to the country of Mauritius following what he called “very productive discussions” with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Trump said on Thursday that he now understands the U.K. leader’s deal is “the best he could make,” despite having previously called the move “an act of great stupidity.” However, he warned that if the planned handover ever compromises U.S. military operations, he will not hesitate to act in America’s interests.
“If the lease deal, sometime in the future, ever falls apart, or anyone threatens or endangers U.S. operations and forces at our Base, I retain the right to Militarily secure and reinforce the American presence in Diego Garcia,” Trump wrote.
President Donald Trump greets U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer during a summit to support ending the more than two-year Israel-Hamas war in Gaza after a breakthrough ceasefire deal, Monday, Oct. 13, 2025, in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, Pool)
A spokeswoman for 10 Downing Street affirmed that Trump and Starmer “agreed on the importance of the deal to secure the joint UK–US base on Diego Garcia, which remains vital to shared security interests.”
Bizarrely, a vote on the bill to hand over the islands was pulled from the parliamentary calendar not long before Trump made his Truth Social post — delaying it until Feb. 23 at the earliest.
The Chagos Islands are an archipelago in the Indian Ocean that became a British territory in 1814, along with neighboring Mauritius. They were split from Mauritius in 1965, ahead of Mauritius’s declaration of independence from Britain in 1968.
The largest island in the Chagos archipelago, Diego Garcia, is home to a joint base operated by the United States and the U.K. — a development that forced thousands of Chagossians to be relocated to Mauritius and the U.K.
Mauritius has been litigating the U.K. over the situation for decades, eventually taking the case to the International Court of Justice in 2018.
Since then, the British government has worked tirelessly to carve out a deal that satisfies Mauritius without losing its defensive foothold. The current deal framework would cede sovereignty but lease the Diego Garcia base for 99 years, ban other nations from utilizing nearby islands without British consent, and …
Chagos handover in limbo after Trump softens on deal, bill pulled from UK Parliament
Every delay has consequences.
A single island in the Indian Ocean is causing a nightmare for government officials on both sides of the Atlantic.
President Donald Trump reversed his position on the United Kingdom’s plan to cede Chagos Islands sovereignty to the country of Mauritius following what he called “very productive discussions” with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Trump said on Thursday that he now understands the U.K. leader’s deal is “the best he could make,” despite having previously called the move “an act of great stupidity.” However, he warned that if the planned handover ever compromises U.S. military operations, he will not hesitate to act in America’s interests.
“If the lease deal, sometime in the future, ever falls apart, or anyone threatens or endangers U.S. operations and forces at our Base, I retain the right to Militarily secure and reinforce the American presence in Diego Garcia,” Trump wrote.
President Donald Trump greets U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer during a summit to support ending the more than two-year Israel-Hamas war in Gaza after a breakthrough ceasefire deal, Monday, Oct. 13, 2025, in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, Pool)
A spokeswoman for 10 Downing Street affirmed that Trump and Starmer “agreed on the importance of the deal to secure the joint UK–US base on Diego Garcia, which remains vital to shared security interests.”
Bizarrely, a vote on the bill to hand over the islands was pulled from the parliamentary calendar not long before Trump made his Truth Social post — delaying it until Feb. 23 at the earliest.
The Chagos Islands are an archipelago in the Indian Ocean that became a British territory in 1814, along with neighboring Mauritius. They were split from Mauritius in 1965, ahead of Mauritius’s declaration of independence from Britain in 1968.
The largest island in the Chagos archipelago, Diego Garcia, is home to a joint base operated by the United States and the U.K. — a development that forced thousands of Chagossians to be relocated to Mauritius and the U.K.
Mauritius has been litigating the U.K. over the situation for decades, eventually taking the case to the International Court of Justice in 2018.
Since then, the British government has worked tirelessly to carve out a deal that satisfies Mauritius without losing its defensive foothold. The current deal framework would cede sovereignty but lease the Diego Garcia base for 99 years, ban other nations from utilizing nearby islands without British consent, and …
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