The United Kingdom (UK) had been forced to pause their plan to hand over the Chagos Islands, where the US air base in Diego Garcia resides, after Donald Trump repeatedly criticized the deal. The British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, him and his government had not completely made the plan to hand off the islands to Mauritius. A spokesperson told CNN that “we continue to believe the agreement is the best way to protect the long-term future of the base.” 

The UK government has long said that  the deal could not go any further in the process with the US support, there has been no exchange of notes with Washington. According to British newspaper The Times, the bill also won’t be included in the King’s Speech next month, which sets out the UK government’s legislative agenda for the upcoming year. The Foreign Office would not comment on that report. A UK government spokesperson told CNN that “Diego Garcia is a key strategic military asset for both the UK and the US.” “Ensuring its long-term operational security is and will continue to be our priority – it is the entire reason for the deal,” they added, “We are continuing to engage with the US and Mauritius.” 

Trump had later backtracked on that support, now attacking the deal as an “act of great stupidity” in January amid a general fraying of US European diplomatic ties over his designs on Greenland. He then doubled down on that position in February, writing “DO NOT GIVE AWAY DIEGO GARCIA!” in a post on Truth Social, adding that the base could be used in any operations against Iran. The US base on Diego Garcia, which had been built in 1971, had become one of Washington’s most important oversea assets. They had helped them launch two of the invasions of Iraq and served as a vital landing spot for all of the bombers that were flying missions all around Asia.