US President Donald Trump will refuse to support the agreement between the United Kingdom and Mauritius to transfer sovereignty over the Chagos archipelago in the Indian Ocean to the United Kingdom unless London allows the US air force to use the base there for possible strikes against Iran, writes the Telegraph.
The base in question is located on the island of Diego Garcia. Although it is jointly managed by the United Kingdom and the United States under a 1966 agreement, the newspaper specifies, London's consent is required for the base to be used for non-routine operations. However, as The Times previously reported, British authorities are refusing to grant such permission due to concerns that a US strike on Iran would be a “violation of international law“.
At the same time, Washington is also determined to achieve its goal, tying the use of the base to joint approval of the deal. According to the article, without the green light from the US on this issue, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will have to decide whether to ratify the deal, despite the US position, or to abandon it, which would risk a multi-billion dollar lawsuit from Mauritius.
On February 25, British Foreign Secretary Hamish Falconer announced that the bill to transfer the islands to Mauritius was being postponed for discussions with the Americans, but Starmer's office denied this information.
Chagos was a British colony along with the rest of Mauritius, but in 1965 London declared the archipelago a separate administrative unit. Three years later, the republic gained independence, but Chagos remained under British control. In 1966, the United States leased Diego Garcia and built an air base there. All 1,500 inhabitants of the archipelago were deported. In 2017, Mauritius received an expert opinion from the International Court of Justice on this issue. In February 2019, the opinion was issued in Mauritius's favor, threatening the continued operation of the base. According to Starmer, the handover of Chagos to Mauritius ensures the continued operation of the base.