The US president warned the navy base on Diego Garcia could also be wanted to reply to attainable assault from Iran.
Revealed On 18 Feb 2026
Donald Trump has criticised the UK’s plan handy over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, a day after the US Division of State gave its official approval of the deal.
The US president mentioned on Wednesday that Prime Minister Keir Starmer was “making an enormous mistake” within the settlement to return sovereignty of the archipelago to Mauritius, and lease again the island of Diego Garcia, which is residence to a UK-US navy base.
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He warned in a Reality Social publish that Starmer was “shedding management of this essential Island by claims of entities by no means identified of earlier than”, including: “In our opinion, they’re fictitious in nature.”
The Indian Ocean archipelago turned a part of British territory in 1814, with the UK detaching it from Mauritius earlier than it gained independence within the Nineteen Sixties. It then labored with the US to pressure the islands’ residents to depart, with a purpose to construct a navy base on Diego Garcia, which it had leased to the US.
Mauritius gained its authorized battle for sovereignty over the islands in 2019, and the Worldwide Courtroom of Justice (ICJ) urged the UK to cede management. This was adopted by a UN decision giving the UK six months handy it again.
The UK will preserve a 99-year lease of Diego Garcia with an possibility to increase, which can value round 100 million kilos ($135m) a 12 months.
The UK Overseas Ministry mentioned on Wednesday that the deal was “essential to the safety of the UK and our key allies, and to holding the British individuals secure. It added that the settlement was “the one option to assure the long-term way forward for this important navy base.”
Trump had criticised the settlement in January, however after talking with Starmer earlier in February, the US chief mentioned the British prime minister had made “the very best deal he may”.
In his Reality Social publish on Wednesday, the president went on to warn that “it could be needed for the US to make use of Diego Garcia, and the Airfield situated in Fairford with a purpose to eradicate a possible assault” from Iran, ought to it determine in opposition to making a cope with the US. He added that this assault “would probably be made” on the UK and different pleasant nations.
Describing the lease as tenuous, he mentioned that the UK should “stay robust within the face of Wokeism, and different issues put earlier than them”.
A spokesperson for the UK’s Overseas, Commonwealth and Growth Workplace mentioned the deal was “essential to the safety of the UK and our key allies, and to holding the British individuals secure.”
“The settlement we have now reached is the one option to assure the long-term way forward for this important navy base,” the spokesperson mentioned.
Chagossians, who had been despatched to Mauritius and the Seychelles, with many settling within the UK, have been combating to return to the islands for years.
