US considering plan to buy Chagos Islands from Mauritius, Telegraph reports

Lead

The White House is considering a plan to purchase the Chagos Islands from Mauritius, a proposal that would reportedly bypass Britain and give the United States direct control over the Diego Garcia military base, according to a report by The Telegraph published on Sunday. The report, which Reuters said it could not immediately confirm, adds a new twist to a long-running dispute over the Indian Ocean archipelago and its strategically vital military outpost.

Coverage comparison

The Telegraph's report has been picked up by several outlets including The Guardian, the South China Morning Post and The Hindu. Most reports agree on the core claim: that the White House is weighing a purchase as one of several options drafted in a paper aimed at providing alternatives to British Prime Minister Keir Starmer's planned transfer of sovereignty of the archipelago to Mauritius. The accounts differ, however, on details about the plan's stage of development and how actively it is being pursued.

The Guardian, citing The Telegraph, reported that the proposal was put forward by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and brought to President Donald Trump, although it was said not to be a leading option. The South China Morning Post quoted a US official as saying the administration is holding regular high-level discussions with Britain to preserve the viability of Diego Garcia as a regional security platform.

Neither the White House, nor the UK Foreign Office responded immediately to requests for comment, according to several reports. On Monday, the government of Mauritius issued a statement saying it had not received any official proposal from the US administration — nor been approached directly or indirectly — regarding Diego Garcia or the Chagos Archipelago.

Key claims

The purchase plan, according to The Telegraph's reporting, would see Washington bypass the UK and make its own deal to take control of Diego Garcia after the island is made sovereign. This would effectively require first completing a sovereignty transfer to Mauritius, enabling the US to negotiate a purchase directly with the Mauritian government. The reported proposal is one of several options contained in a White House paper aimed at providing alternatives to ceding sovereignty of the archipelago to Mauritius.

The reported purchase plan is said to stem from US concerns that handing the island over to Mauritius, considered an ally of China, could open the door to espionage. Concern over China's expanding naval ambitions in the Indo-Pacific is also said to be a motivating factor. According to The Guardian, the base is located in the central Indian Ocean roughly 2,360 miles (3,800 km) from Iran and includes an airfield that can handle long-range US missiles. Iran has carried out strikes against the base since the start of the US-Israel war with Iran, the report noted.

Perspectives

The UK government in April put on hold its deal to cede sovereignty of the Chagos Islands, a transfer that had been criticized by President Donald Trump, according to multiple reports. Trump called the agreement a “big mistake” in February. The report of the purchase plan arrives amid the ongoing war between the US and Israel against Iran, during which Iran has launched attacks targeting Diego Garcia. In March, the UK approved a US-ures request to launch missiles from the base — a move Trump complained was “very late.”

Mauritius, meanwhile, reaffirmed its position on sovereignty, with the Mauritian government saying on Monday that “Mauritius's position remains unchanged: its sovereignty over the Chagos [Archipelago] is non-negotiable.” The government statement acknowledged the Telegraph report but said it had received no offers either directly or indirectly from the US administration.

Analysis and status

If confirmed, the scheme would mark a major rearrangement of the geopolitical arrangement in the Indian Ocean. The UK had agreed to transfer sovereignty of the territory to Mauritius last year, paying £101 million ($135 million) per year while securing a 99-year lease for continued use of Diego Garcia. That deal, negotiated during the previous UK government, has been subject to a series of setbacks with the April hold.

US officials have called Diego Garcia a “vital and indispensable military installation of significant importance” to its national security, with the island jointly used by the US and British militaries since the mid twentieth century, primarily as a staging and logistic hub for operations across the region, including long-range aviation and naval deployments.

The report of a US purchase attempt is being monitored closely in the region, but remains unconfirmed and unacknowledged by both Washington and Mauritius.