{"id":625568,"date":"2026-09-24T03:34:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T03:34:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/625568\/"},"modified":"2026-09-24T03:34:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T03:34:13","slug":"no-signs-chagos-deal-can-be-adapted-to-suit-trump-say-uk-officials-chagos-islands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/625568\/","title":{"rendered":"No signs Chagos deal can be adapted to suit Trump, say UK officials | Chagos Islands"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Chagos Islands<\/a> deal is on hold for as long as Donald Trump objects to it, UK officials believe, with no immediate signs it can be adapted to suit the US president.<\/p>\n

After Trump savaged the three-way plan as \u201ca terrible deal\u201d during a meeting with Andy Burnham at the UN general assembly<\/a>, the prime minister said he was \u201cconfident\u201d the UK would be able to find a solution to revive the idea.<\/p>\n

But while efforts are still taking place to do this, there is an acceptance in the government that it is extremely unlikely unless Trump has another change of heart. \u201cUntil the president changes his mind there will not be any progress,\u201d one official said. \u201cWe are where we are. We were waiting for the president to present a view, which he has.\u201d<\/p>\n

The UK signed a treaty last year<\/a> to transfer sovereignty over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, while retaining control of the joint UK-US military base on Diego Garcia, part of the Indian Ocean archipelago, under a 99-year lease. Mauritius was set to receive \u00a3165m for three years and \u00a3120m a year from the fourth year.<\/p>\n

map graphic<\/a><\/p>\n

Wes Streeting, the UK defence secretary, said on Wednesday morning that payments worth at least \u00a3120m to Mauritius were on hold given the deal could not go ahead without US support<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis deal as it is currently constituted can\u2019t go ahead without American support,\u201d Streeting told BBC Radio 4\u2019s Today\u2019s programme. \u201cSo we have to get a deal to a place where it commands American support as well as the agreement of the government of Mauritius<\/a> and our government.\u201d<\/p>\n

The US had supported the plan, but Trump changed his mind amid a wider deterioration of relations with Keir Starmer over the lack of UK support for the US attacks on Iran.<\/p>\n

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Speaking after their first in-person meeting at the UN in New York on Tuesday, Trump praised Burnham but gave no ground on his scepticism about the Chagos deal.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t support it. I think it\u2019s terrible,\u201d Trump told reporters. \u201cIt was a terrible deal. [Mauritius] all of a sudden say they have ownership. Somebody has ownership that never showed up before, after decades and centuries. I think it\u2019s ridiculous.\u201d<\/p>\n

Burnham later said he had \u201cinherited the situation\u201d and had told Trump \u201cthat we will work to find that resolution between the different sides\u201d. He added: \u201cIt was clear that we need to come to that agreement, but I\u2019m confident we can find it working with our US partners.\u201d<\/p>\n

Given Trump\u2019s objections appear based on the core element of the deal \u2013 the transfer of sovereignty to Mauritius \u2013 there appears to be no immediate way forward. The UK government has previously made clear that Washington\u2019s approval is a prerequisite for the plan.<\/p>\n

UK officials stress, however, that while Burnham inherited the impasse from Starmer, there is no intention to deprioritise a plan, begun under Rishi Sunak, that the government says is vital to ensure the future of the strategically vital Diego Garcia base, given Mauritian claims to sovereignty of the archipelago.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not back to the drawing board, as we do need to find a diplomatic solution to this,\u201d another UK official said. \u201cEveryone agrees something has to be done, which is why several prime ministers and even more foreign secretaries have tried to get it over the line.\u201d<\/p>\n

Streeting stressed the same point to the BBC, saying: \u201cThe ostrich strategy of sticking our heads in the sand \u2026 I would caution is not a wise strategy when it concerns one of the most sensitive national security assets we have anywhere in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Chagos Islands deal is on hold for as long as Donald Trump objects to it, UK officials…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":625569,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-625568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=625568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625568\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/625569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=625568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=625568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=625568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}