The President of the United States, Donald Trump, published this Wednesday (18), on the Truth Social network, that the United Kingdom is making a “big mistake” by accepting to transfer the sovereignty of the Chagos archipelago to the Mauritius islands and maintaining only the right to use the military base installed on the island of Diego Garcia – the largest in the archipelago, through a long-term agreement.
In the text, Trump stated that, if Iran does not reach a nuclear deal with Washington, the United States may need to use the island of Diego Garcia to neutralize a possible attack by a “highly unstable and dangerous regime”.
“Leases are not good when it comes to countries,” Trump wrote, criticizing British Prime Minister Keir Starmer for validating the agreement and ceding the archipelago to Mauritius. “Don’t hand over Diego Garcia,” said the American president.
The declaration comes amid a plan announced by the British government last year to return sovereignty of the Chagos archipelago to Mauritius, keeping the Diego Garcia base under British and American military control for 99 years. At the time of the announcement of this agreement, the United States Department of State declared support for London’s decision to move forward with the understanding.
The island of Diego Garcia is the largest territory in the Chagos archipelago, located in the center of the Indian Ocean. The archipelago is officially still administered by the United Kingdom, which has controlled the region since 1965 as part of the so-called British Indian Ocean Territory.
The military base in Diego Garcia, which currently houses forces from the United States and the United Kingdom, was developed during the Cold War and has been used in operations such as the Gulf War (1990–1991), the attacks on Afghanistan in 2001 and the initial phase of the Iraq war in 2003.
The island’s strategic position allows military projection over the Middle East, South Asia and parts of East Africa. Therefore, Trump directly linked the importance of the territory to the ongoing nuclear negotiations with Iran.
The sovereignty of the islands that make up the Chagos archipelago has been contested for decades. Mauritius claims that he was forced to give up the archipelago as a condition of his independence from the United Kingdom in 1968. Between the end of the 1960s and the beginning of the 1970s, thousands of inhabitants were removed from Diego Garcia to allow the construction of a military base on the island. Many were taken to Mauritius and Seychelles, while others settled in the United Kingdom.
In 2019, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) concluded, in an advisory opinion, that the separation of the territory of Mauritius was illegal and recommended that the United Kingdom end its administration over the archipelago. The decision was not binding, but it increased international pressure on London.
After years of negotiations and diplomatic disputes, the British government, now under the leadership of Keir Starmer, announced last year an agreement to transfer the sovereignty of the Chagos archipelago to Mauritius, preserving only the Diego Garcia base under military control of the United Kingdom and the United States through a long-term use contract.
This is not the first time that Trump has spoken out on the issue. In January, he had already called the transfer of territory to Mauritius an “act of great stupidity” and “absolute weakness”, arguing that the loss of control over a strategic area would send a negative signal to countries like China and Russia.
