London , 06 February (H.S.): U.S. President Donald Trump has reaffirmed unequivocal support for the United Kingdom’s contentious agreement to cede sovereignty over the Chagos Archipelago to Mauritius while securing a 99-year lease on the strategically indispensable Diego Garcia military base, following direct consultations with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer that quelled earlier White House reservations.

Downing Street disclosed Thursday that the leaders “agreed on the importance” of the pact—initially unveiled May 22, 2025, after Labour’s electoral triumph—to safeguard the joint UK-U.S. facility amid Mauritius’s persistent International Court of Justice challenges, with Whitehall projecting £101 million annual lease costs totaling £3.4 billion in net present value over the initial term, extensible thereafter.

Trump’s Truth Social post earlier that day tempered his prior January denunciation of the arrangement as an “act of great stupidity” and “total weakness”—linked provocatively to his Greenland acquisition ambitions—conceding Starmer had negotiated “the best he could make,” while reserving unilateral U.S. prerogatives to “militarily secure and reinforce” Diego Garcia against future threats.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt affirmed to reporters that Trump, post-telephonic dialogue, comprehends Starmer’s position and endorses it, albeit underscoring America’s prerogative to defend assets on the Indian Ocean atoll—vital for operations spanning Iraq, Afghanistan, and counter-China contingencies—despite Ambassador Warren Stephens lamenting relinquishment as suboptimal yet pragmatic amid ratification pressures.

The accord, ratified via virtual ceremony by Starmer and Mauritian Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam, preempts adverse ICJ provisional measures that could invite Chinese basing on outer isles, per UK legal assessments, while a nascent Joint Commission oversees implementation.

Opposition persists domestically: Conservative shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti Patel decried the “appalling surrender” vulnerable to Beijing’s Mauritius ties, as a parliamentary ratification bill languishes amid Trump’s interlude-induced delays following two Starmer-Trump calls resolving U.S. hesitations.

This resolution—ensconced in bilateral commitments for prompt reconvening—fortifies Diego Garcia’s inviolability, over 60-isle expanse 1,300 miles from India’s coast, against erosion while navigating post-colonial reckonings with Chagossian repatriation provisions.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar