LONDON — Britain agreed to hand over Mauritius Chagos Islands Which includes a strategic British-American military base, suspended indefinitely due to the administration of US President Donald Trump Withdrew its support For the deal.
The British government admitted on Saturday that legislation to ratify the Indian Ocean Islands Convention had run out of time in Parliament.
It’s the latest fallout from Stressed relationships Between Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government and the Trump administration.
Trump initially supported the deal, but changed his mind in January, calling the deal to transfer sovereignty over the islands, home to the joint military base at Diego Garcia, an “act of great stupidity” in a social media post.
The UK has halted progress on the bill, and the government now admits there will not be enough time for it to become law before the current session of Parliament ends in the next few weeks. It is not expected to be included in the list of bills announced by King Charles III for the next session of Parliament, which begins on May 13.
Despite British frustration with the change in the American position, officials remain hopeful that the agreement can be revived.
The British government said in a statement: “Diego Garcia is a key strategic military asset for both the United Kingdom and the United States.” “Ensuring its long-term operational security is and will remain our priority – which is the entire reason for the deal.
“We still believe the agreement is the best way to protect the long-term future of the base, but we have always said we will not move forward with the deal unless it has the support of the United States. We continue to engage with the United States and Mauritius.”
Simon MacDonald, who was head of the British Foreign Office until 2020, said the government had “no other choice” but to freeze the agreement.
He told the BBC: “When the president of the United States is openly hostile, the government has to think again. So this agreement, this treaty, will go into a deep freeze for the time being.”
The remote chain of more than 60 islands off the tip of India, south of the Maldives, has been under British control since 1814.
A military base on Diego Garcia, one of the islands, has supported US military operations from Vietnam to Iraq and Afghanistan and as a base for US bombers in the US-Israeli war on Iran.
Starmer initially banned US aircraft from using British air bases to launch attacks on Iran. He later agreed to allow the United States to use bases in England and in Diego Garcia to strike Iranian missile sites, but not other targets.
Trump criticized US allies in NATO for their reluctance to join the war. He mocked Starmer last month as “not Winston Churchill” and mocked the Royal Navy.
Under the agreement reached between the UK and Mauritius after years of negotiations, Britain will lease back the Diego Garcia base for at least 99 years.
Starmer’s government says the agreement protects the base from international legal challenges. In recent years, the United Nations and its Supreme Court have urged Britain to do so Return the islands to Mauritius.
The opposition Conservative Party in Britain and the British Reform Party opposed the agreement, saying that giving up the islands would expose them to the risk of interference from China and Russia. They prompted the Trump administration to cancel its support.
Island residents who were displaced from Diego Garcia in the 1960s and 1970s to make way for the base say they were not consulted and worry the deal will make it difficult for them to return home.
An estimated 10,000 displaced Chagosans and their descendants now live primarily in Britain, Mauritius and Seychelles. Some have fought unsuccessfully in the UK courts for many years for the right to return home.