The U.S. president has changed his mind multiple times on the issue. But in February, Trump warned Starmer that he was “making a big mistake” in giving over the island. “This land should not be taken away from the U.K. and, if it is allowed to be, it will be a blight on our Great Ally,” Trump said.
The British government earlier this week acknowledged that it’s running out of time to pass the legislation.
“We continue to believe the agreement is the best way to protect the long-term future of the base, but we have always said we would only proceed with the deal if it has U.S. support,” a U.K. government spokesperson said Saturday, according to the Guardian.
The agreement was meant to avoid a potentially painful and expensive legal dispute with Mauritius over the former colony. Indeed, after Trump’s intervention last month, Mauritius said that it was exploring legal tools against London.
Toby Noskwith, a spokesperson for campaign group Indigenous Chagossian People, told Reuters that questions needed to be asked about “the enormous sums of money which have been wasted on a collapsed negotiation.”
The decision to put the agreement on hold follows increasing tensions over the military cooperation between Britain and the U.S. Starmer refused to support the American-Israeli attacks on Iran, and he allowed Washington to use U.K. military bases only for defensive strikes.
During the Middle East conflict, Iran targeted the Diego Garcia base, firing two ballistic missiles unsuccessfully at the Indian Ocean islands.