Donald Trump is reportedly weighing a plan to buy the Chagos Islands from Mauritius amid stalled plans from the UK to cede sovereignty of the territory, the Telegraph first reported.
The White House did not respond to the Guardian’s request for comment on the report about the potential plan.
Under the reported proposal, the Trump administration would sidestep UK officials and purchase the island, securing control of the US-UK Diego Garcia military base.
The island, however, would first have to be ceded to Mauritian sovereignty, allowing the US to negotiate its purchase with Mauritius directly, the Telegraph reported. Previous legislation to hand the islands to Mauritius were shelved in April after the US removed its support of the deal.
Purchasing the islands is one of several proposals being considered by the US, the Telegraph reported. The latest plan was put forth by the US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, and brought to Trump, though it allegedly is not a leading option. Some officials in the Trump administration were concerned about giving the island to Mauritius, an ally of China, opening up the possibility of espionage, the Telegraph reported.
A delegation of Chagos refugees visiting the UK last week said the issue had been “hijacked within the halls” of UK politics.
The six-person contingent from the Chagos Refugees Group expressed their full support for the UK to conclude an agreement on the future of the islands. “The most important is our rights,” Louis Olivier Bancoult, the delegation leader, said on Friday.
“There is not a real will for the British government to find a solution for our people. We need to find a way,” he added. “We’re still suffering and our position is clear, we have the right to live in our birthplace.”
Discussions for the US to potentially purchase the Chagos Islands come amid the US-Israel war with Iran that has been ongoing since the end of February. The Diego Garcia base, located in the central Indian Ocean, is about 2,360 miles (3,800km) from Iran and includes an airbase that can handle US long-range missiles.
Since the war there began, Iran has already launched multiple strikes on the joint base. One such strike in late March was struck down by a US warship.
In March, the UK gave the US permission to launch missiles striking Iranian missile launchers from the joint base as the war continues.
Trump previously condemned the move as “very late” and argued that UK officials should have approved the decision sooner.
In a social media post, Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s foreign minister, warned Keir Starmer that he was “putting British lives at risk by allowing UK bases to be used for aggression against Iran”.
A UK government spokesperson said: “The Government inherited a situation where UK control over the military base on Diego Garcia was under threat and action was required to protect UK national interests and to prevent our adversaries from getting a foothold in a location of such strategic importance.
“Diego Garcia is a key strategic military asset for both the UK and the US, which has protected our shared security for nearly 60 years. Maintaining long-term operational control and security of Diego Garcia is the entire basis for the UK-Mauritius Agreement, an agreement born out of the real long-term risks to the base of which both the UK and US are very well aware.”
When asked if the UK would go ahead with the deal to cede sovereignty if the US opposed it, a government source said: “We’ve always been clear we wouldn’t go ahead without US support.”
