"The US president warned the military base on Diego Garcia may be needed to respond to possible attack from Iran. Donald Trump has criticised the United Kingdom's plan to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, a day after the United States Department of State gave its official approval of the deal. The US president said on Wednesday that Prime Minister Keir Starmer was making a big mistake in the agreement to"
"The Indian Ocean archipelago became part of British territory in 1814, with the UK detaching it from Mauritius before it gained independence in the 1960s. It then worked with the US to force the islands' residents to leave, in order to build a military base on Diego Garcia, which it had leased to the US. Mauritius won its legal battle for sovereignty over the islands in 2019, and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) urged the UK to cede control. This was followed by a UN resolution giving the UK six months to hand it back."
The United Kingdom will transfer sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius while retaining a 99-year lease on Diego Garcia, which will be leased back and cost around 100 million pounds annually. The United States Department of State approved the deal and the UK Foreign Ministry described the arrangement as crucial to security and to guaranteeing the long-term future of the military base. Donald Trump criticised the handover, warned on Truth Social that the prime minister was making a mistake and claimed unfamiliar entities were fictitious, and suggested the Diego Garcia base may be needed to respond to potential Iranian attacks.
Read at www.aljazeera.com
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