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The White House is actively considering a plan to purchase the Chagos Islands, potentially undermining the UK’s agreement to transfer sovereignty of the strategically vital territory to Mauritius, according to reports. US officials have prepared proposals to bypass Britain and negotiate directly for control of Diego Garcia, the key Indian Ocean atoll that hosts a major joint US-UK military base. The idea forms part of broader options being developed by the Trump administration as alternatives to Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s plan to cede the islands to Mauritius, which has close ties to China and Iran. Strategic Importance Diego Garcia’s location...

U.S. President Donald Trump is considering the possibility of purchasing the strategically important Chagos Archipelago in the Indian Ocean directly from Mauritius. This scenario has gained momentum due to delays in the UK’s plans to transfer sovereignty over these islands. The new U.S. administration seeks to gain full control over the archipelago to secure its military positions in the region. Washington’s main goal is to preserve and protect the strategic Diego Garcia military base, which is currently jointly used by the U.S. and the UK. To finalize the deal, the islands must first officially gain sovereign status under Mauritian control....

Donald Trump has flip-flopped over whether Sir Keir Starmer should ‘give in to wokeism’ and hand the Chagos Islands back to Mauritius, a day after approving the deal. His defiant message comes as dozens of planes head towards the Middle East with tensions between Iran and the US reaching a breaking point after nuclear talks. In a post on his Truth Social platform, the US president said Sir Keir would be making ‘a big mistake’ if he proceeded with plans to hand over the islands – which are home to a joint US-UK military base. The plans would see the...

Sir Keir Starmer pulled his deal to surrender the Chagos Islands on Friday night. Just days after Donald Trump blasted the UK for 'an act of great stupidity' in signing the strategically important archipelago away, Labour withdrew the legislation from a planned debate in the House of Lords on Monday. While sources claimed the process was simply being delayed, critics warned that without US support it was effectively dead. Conservative peer Daniel Hannan said: 'We have secured a breathing space. It is now up to Trump and the people around him. If the President sticks to what he said this...

@GBNEWS 'This is the worst deal I’ve ever seen!' Nigel Farage blasts Labour's Chagos Islands handover, calling it a betrayal of national security, a £50 billion taxpayer disaster, and a slap in the face to the Chagossians. 'I hope Trump’s has sunk this Chagos deal below the waterline.'

The US president said the UK's decision to cede the Chagos Islands to Mauritius is among the reasons he wants to take control of Greenland. US President Donald Trump on Tuesday criticised the UK's deal to hand sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, calling it an "act of great stupidity" and "total weakness." Trump said that relinquishing the remote Indian Ocean archipelago — home to a key joint US-UK military base on Diego Garcia, the largest island — was "another in a very long line of national security reasons why Greenland has to be acquired." "Shockingly, our 'brilliant' NATO...

Summary Donald Trump says the UK's plan to hand over sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius is an "an act of GREAT STUPIDITY" He says the deal - in which the UK would lease a military base on the territory, while handing over sovereignty - is one of the reasons he wants the US to take over Greenland Trump writes on Truth Social: "Shockingly, our "brilliant" NATO Ally, the United Kingdom, is currently planning to give away the Island of Diego Garcia, the site of a vital U.S. Military Base, to Mauritius, and to do so FOR NO REASON...

Sir Keir Starmer’s plan for the Chagos Islands will cost 10 times more than he said, according to official figures. The Government’s own estimate for handing over the British Indian Ocean Territory to Mauritius is almost £35bn, documents released under the Freedom of Information Act show – far higher than the £3.4bn figure Sir Keir has cited in public. Labour ministers now face accusations they misled Parliament and the press with an “accountancy trick” to conceal the true scale of the bill from taxpayers

The British government’s plans to hand control of the strategically significant Chagos Islands to Mauritius are set to be signed off on Thursday, after an 11th-hour legal injunction failed to stop an effort that has been intensely controversial in both the United Kingdom and the United States. Prime Minister Keir Starmer intends to return the islands to the African country, while maintaining control of the US-UK Diego Garcia military base, and the deal is expected be finalized on Thursday. It comes after a High Court judge briefly blocked the move in a ruling made at 2 a.m. local time (9...

Iran has threatened to strike American bases and 'blow up' the entire Middle East if Donald Trump follows through on his warning of military action in the absence of a new nuclear deal. -snip- 'If the Americans attack the sanctity of Iran, the entire region will blow up like a spark in an ammunition dump,' Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Qalibaf said Friday. 'Their bases and those of their allies will not be safe,' Qalibaf said in a live speech at the annual Al-Quds Day, or Jerusalem Day, that marks the last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan. Khamenei has...

@benrileysmith Breaking: Donald Trump tells @Telegraph in the Oval Office he is minded to sign off the Chagos Islands deal. Big win for Starmer.

WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) warned the United Kingdom that it could damage its relationship with the United States if it threatens the future of the joint U.S.-U.K. military base on the island of Diego Garcia by ceding sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius. Key excerpts of the speech are below: “Do you know who is loving all of this? China, because China has a close relationship with Mauritius. And do you know what? It is going to get a lot closer. “This is insane. This is cell-deep stupid. This is bone-deep, down-to-the-marrow stupid. Because the United Nations...

NEW DELHI: How far will a country go to secure a favourable deal for itself? Pretty far, it seems. Mauritius has offered a couple of sun-drenched islands to India as part of a trade and investment deal. While the offer has been talked about for a while, Mauritius has revived it - at a time when it's very keen on persevering with the 1983 double-taxation avoidance treaty with India. Mauritius foreign affairs and trade minister Arvin Boolell said that it was up to India to use the islands to its advantage. He said the "blue economy" had great potential. India...

Full title: Future of controversial US military base Diego Garcia hangs in the balance after UN rules the Indian Ocean archipelago was illegally seized in the 1960s by Britain and should give be given back to Mauritius The future of a US military base constructed on a British territory in Mauritius has been thrown into doubt after a United Nations ruling on Monday. The UN's high court has ordered the United Kingdom to give the Chagos Islands back to Mauritius after an investigation revealed they'd been seized under illegal pretenses during the 1960s and 70s. This could, however, also cause...

The White House is considering a plan to buy the Chagos Islands from Mauritius, the Telegraph reported on ​Sunday. U.S. officials have drawn up a proposal to bypass the U.K. ‌and make their own deal to take control of Diego Garcia, the report said. The plan is among several options being drafted by the White House, in a paper aimed at providing alternatives ​to British Prime Minister Keir Starmer ceding sovereignty of the Indian Ocean archipelago ​to Mauritius, the report said. "President Trump has been consistent in his position ⁠that the United Kingdom should not give away the British Indian...

Keir Starmer has tonight been forced to stall the Bill which would hand the Chagos Islands over to Mauritius. The legislation enabling the deal was expected to be debated in the Lords on Monday. But this evening, it was revealed that the votes have been delayed amid parliamentary ping-pong and a backlash from the Americans. Both the Conservatives and Reform UK are keen to take credit for the pause in the bill, under which Britain would give up the archipelago and lease back the Diego Garcia base. The Conservative case for credit is on the legislative front. Peers like Lord...

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer went after President Trump on Wednesday for reversing position on a deal surrounding the Chagos Islands, suggesting the president did so because of tensions over his plan to acquire Greenland. “I made out my position on Greenland absolutely clear on Monday and a moment ago. President Trump deployed words on Chagos yesterday that were different to his previous words of welcome and support when I met him in the White House,” Starmer said in the House of Commons. “He deployed those words yesterday for the express purpose of putting pressure on me and Britain in...

Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump Shockingly, our “brilliant” NATO Ally, the United Kingdom, is currently planning to give away the Island of Diego Garcia, the site of a vital U.S. Military Base, to Mauritius, and to do so FOR NO REASON WHATSOEVER. There is no doubt that China and Russia have noticed this act of total weakness. These are International Powers who only recognize STRENGTH, which is why the United States of America, under my leadership, is now, after only one year, respected like never before. The UK giving away extremely important land is an act of GREAT STUPIDITY, and is...

The Telegraph understands that Mr Musk has significant concerns about the UK’s Online Safety Act, which requires social media companies including X – which he owns – to regulate their content. Scrapping or amending the legislation may become a key request of Mr Trump when he enters trade negotiations with Britain next year. Mr Trump’s team has warned that the UK must choose between a closer trade relationship with either the US or the EU, suggesting that talks could end with tariffs of up to 20 per cent on UK exports if the incoming president is not placated. Mr Farage...

Could the U.S. rest easy if its only military base in the Indian Ocean were under the sovereign authority of an African government instead of the U.K.? At center stage is Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia, a critical hub for U.S. forces. The base is the sole reason that the U.K. clings onto the 58 small Indian Ocean isles that make up the Chagos Archipelago, of which Diego Garcia is the largest. For decades, London has made Diego Garcia available to the Pentagon on the most favorable terms imaginable: no rent, few restrictions and little oversight. The island is an...