Chagos Deal: The view from the United States

Many historians often consider the United States and the United Kingdom to be the most closely aligned nations in world history. There is even a name for it, the “special relationship,” a term to describe the deep political, economic, cultural, geopolitical, diplomatic, and historical relationship between the two nations. A pinnacle of this relationship has been the joint military base on Diego Garcia in the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT). However, Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s new “Chagos Deal” to hand over the Chagos Islands, including Diego Garcia, to Mauritius threatens American geopolitical interest in the region and the special relationship between the U.S. and the U.K.

In Mr. Starmer’s deal, sovereignty over the Chagos Islands will be given to Mauritius, with the U.K. paying £101 million pounds per year in rent to continue the operation of the joint base on Diego Garcia for the next 99 years. However, this deal even though in the short term allows for the continued operation of the base, still undermines America’s position in the Indo-Pacific region as British sovereignty over all of the Chagos Islands is critical to ensure the stability of the American position. Mauritian sovereignty over the islands compromises the long-term stability of the base.

Despite Mr. Starmer’s insistence that this deal secures the bases operation, it actually does the opposite. Mauritius is a signature of Treaty of Pelindaba, which establishes a nuclear free zone in Africa. Diego Garcia is critical for the British and American nuclear deterrent. In the future it is quite possible Mauritius will demand international inspections and restrictions on what activities can take place on the island. Diego Garcia could also lose its legal ability to conduct strikes on China and Iran, as Mauritius would not want to risk their territory being on the receiving end of a hypothetical war. This has already happened previously where many Arab states such as Bahrain and Oman refused to allow the U.S. to use its own military bases in their countries for the strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities during the recent 12-day war. If Mauritius places restrictions on what operations can be done, the base effectively becomes a useless island in the middle of the ocean.

Mauritius has overall shown itself to be a bad faith negotiator. Mauritius legally sold the islands to the U.K. for £3 million pounds in 1965; however, in 2010 it renewed its claim to the islands and has been engaged in a lawfare campaign against the U.K. since. The U.K. and Mauritius struck a deal in October 2024 to settle the dispute, yet just two months later in December the new Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolan said the deal didn’t go far enough, rejected the proposal, and managed to squeeze even more concessions from the British. This constant ripping up of previous agreements demanding more money and control shows Mauritius is a bad faith negotiator, always using the prospect of closing Diego Garcia as leverage against the British. What is to stop Mauritius from demanding even more concessions once the U.K. formally renounces its territorial claim to Diego Garcia? This time in such a scenario, the diplomatic situation would be even worse, as now Mauritius would have the legal authority to expel the base from its newly internationally recognized territory, just as what happened to the British base in Hong Kong in 1997 or to the U.S. base in Niger in 2024.

If Mauritius demands more concessions further down the line and the U.K. refuses, the U.S. could end up in a diplomatic crisis of being accused of illegally occupying an island. This is a massive long-term risk that the Chagos deal puts Diego Garcia in, the base is simply too critical to the American geopolitical strategy to lose. It’s location in the Indian Ocean is the lynchpin in U.S. military strategy, being one of the only bases capable of launching B-21 bombers into Iran and western China and is the only place outside the U.S. capable of reloading American nuclear submarines.

In conclusion, the deal to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius severely compromises America’s geopolitical position in the Indo-Pacific and puts the long-term viability of the base at risk. Mauritius time and again has shown itself to be a bad faith negotiator and has been willing to cooperate with American and British adversaries. Such a risk is intolerable to the United States. I urge Prime Minister Keir Starmer to reverse course immediately, cancel this deal, and consult the Chagossian community about how to proceed forward with keeping the British flag flying high over Diego Garcia.

Ryan Anderson is a former staffer to U.S. Congressman Dan Crenshaw