London: US President Donald Trump has weighed in to a British political row over the fate of a powerful military base in the Indian Ocean after four men landed on the territory and declared they had the right to settle there.
Trump demanded British Prime Minister Keir Starmer scrap a deal over the sovereignty of Diego Garcia and neighbouring islands in the Chagos group, saying the base was important to potential plans to launch strikes on Iran and respond to any counterattacks.
“Our relationship with the United Kingdom is a strong and powerful one, and it has been for many years, but Prime Minister Starmer is losing control of this important island by claims of entities never known of before,” Trump posted on Truth Social on Wednesday night (Australian time).
“Should Iran decide not to make a Deal, it may be necessary for the United States to use Diego Garcia, and the Airfield located in Fairford [in England], in order to eradicate a potential attack by a highly unstable and dangerous Regime – An attack that would potentially be made on the United Kingdom, as well as other friendly Countries,” Trump wrote.
“Prime Minister Starmer should not lose control, for any reason, of Diego Garcia, by entering a tenuous, at best, 100 Year Lease.
“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. We will always be ready, willing, and able to fight for the U.K., but they have to remain strong in the face of Wokeism, and other problems put before them. DO NOT GIVE AWAY DIEGO GARCIA!”
The growing dispute between the US and the UK comes after the men landed on an atoll near the Diego Garcia military base to challenge Starmer’s plans for the territory, a strategic location where Australian forces have sometimes joined US allies in operations to the Middle East.
The UK government has slammed the “illegal” landing by the men, who are claiming the right to live on the islands after decades of dispute about the way their forebears were removed in the 1960s to make way for the base.
At stake is a British agreement to pay £30 billion ($57 billion) to Mauritius over the next 99 years to acknowledge its sovereignty over the islands and lease them back to ensure US and allied forces can continue to use the base.
The men travelled south from Sri Lanka in a fishing boat and landed on the atoll of Peros Banhos on Monday, placing them on restricted territory because of its proximity to the airfield and base on the neighbouring island of Diego Garcia.
Their leader, Misley Mandarin, has defied warnings to leave the atoll and declared that he wanted his people to be able to settle there. “They can make a threat however they want, I am not moving,” he said.
Some of the original inhabitants, known as Chagossians, are campaigning for their right to reclaim the territory despite the practical challenges of living on islands, which were home to about 2000 people before Britain moved them to Mauritius.
Their cause is being backed by Reform UK leader Nigel Farage in an attempt to shame Starmer over the terms of the deal with Mauritius, setting up a fight over the territory that could run to the next UK election in 2029.
Diego Garcia is one of the world’s most secretive military facilities and is used by the US to send B-52 bombers and other aircraft to the Middle East, making it a potential base for operations against Iran.
Australian forces were stationed there during joint operations with the US in Afghanistan and Iraq in the early 2000s, and US aircrews sometimes fly between Australian bases and the Indian Ocean territory.
While Britain kept control of the islands after the end of its empire, the base is run by the US and is said to have about 2500 personnel. Diego Garcia is located about 5000 kilometres north-west of Perth, 800 kilometres south of Colombo and 3500 kilometres east of Zanzibar.
Mandarin told the UK media that the British authorities at the islands sent him a notice telling him to leave or face the risk of prison.
“If you breach this Order and return to the Territory you will commit a criminal offence and be liable on conviction for imprisonment for three years or a fine of £3000,” said the notice he supplied to news outlet GB News.
Mandarin and his three companions were accompanied by Reform UK politician Adam Holloway, who quit the Conservative Party last July to join Farage.
“We bought a boat in Thailand and provisioned it in Sri Lanka,” Holloway wrote in The Spectator on Wednesday.
“Then we made the five-day ocean passage from the port of Galle in Sri Lanka to the northernmost islands of the Chagos archipelago.” The group waded ashore carrying a US flag and a British Indian Ocean Territory flag.
Farage has blasted the UK government by saying the men had the right to live on the island.
“Keir Starmer is now trying to evict the Chagossians who have resettled on their homeland” he tweeted. “The Chagossian people deserve their right to self-determination.”
The UK Foreign Office said the government was working with Mauritius to arrange visits to the islands by the Chagossians, but it dismissed the landing on Monday as an “illegal, unsafe stunt” that would not help the community.
While the political dispute sets up another way for Farage to berate Starmer at a time when the prime minister has lost ground in the opinion polls and confronted calls from within his own party to resign, it also cements long-term uncertainty over the sovereignty agreement.
Trump called the agreement an “act of great stupidity” four weeks ago, but then spoke to Starmer and appeared to support the deal.
The British media raised concerns that China could gain influence with Mauritius and cause trouble for the US and UK in the future, turning the agreement into a deep dispute on national security.
A draft law to ratify the Chagos Islands deal stalled in the final days of January when the Conservative Party, led by Kemi Badenoch, called on the government to scrap the agreement.
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David Crowe is Europe correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via X or email.From our partners
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