Fuel tanks are seen at the edge of a military airstrip on Diego Garcia, the largest island in the Chagos archipelago in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Trump said in February that the deal was a “big mistake”, having previously said it was the best that Starmer would ⁠get. Under the deal, Britain would retain control of the strategically important and highly secretive military base on Diego Garcia under a 99-year lease that would preserve US operations there. A British government spokesperson said that ensuring the long-term operational security of Diego Garcia would ​remain a priority. Natives displacedBritain forcibly displaced up to 2,000 indigenous Chagossians in the late 1960s and 1970s to establish the base on the Diego Garcia atoll.

Source: Bangkok Post April 11, 2026 12:33 UTC