Published: 19:36 EST, 25 January 2025 | Updated: 06:25 EST, 26 January 2025
Donald Trump has been urged to block Keir Starmer's 'dud' Chagos deal and consign it to 'the shredder for good' over fears that it will make it easier for Iran to spy on the US. slitting metal spacer
Marco Rubio, who is Mr Trump's new US secretary of state, previously labelled the Chagos Islands deal 'a serious threat' to national security. He warned it 'threatens critical US military posture in the region'.
Top republicans have now urged Trump to consign the deal to 'the shredder for good' ahead of his first phone call with Sir Keir Starmer since Trump is back in the White House, according to the Telegraph.
Labour made a shock announcement in October that it was ceding sovereignty of the Chagos Islands - a British overseas territory for more than 200 years - to Mauritius.
As part of the arrangement, the joint US-UK military base on Diego Garcia - the largest of the islands - will remain operational for at least 99 years.
Mauritius has opened talks with Iran on opening branches of the country's universities, which security experts fearing this could be used to spy on the Diego Garcia base.
This follows previous accusations against Iran of using academic exchange programmes to set up spies in the US, Germany and Sweden.
'If Mauritius is growing its friendships with China and Iran, how can we expect it to keep our adversaries' spies away from our base?' John Kennedy, senator for Louisiana, wrote in the Telegraph.
Donald Trump has been urged to block Keir Starmer's 'dud' Chagos deal and consign it to 'the shredder for good' over fears that it will make it easier for Iran to spy on the US
Top republicans have now urged Trump to consign the deal to 'the shredder for good' ahead of his first phone call with Sir Keir Starmer since Trump is back in the White House, according to the Telegraph
Labour made a shock announcement in October that it was ceding sovereignty of the Chagos Islands - a British overseas territory for more than 200 years - to Mauritius
'It's hard to believe that China and Iran aren't trying to pull Mauritius into their axis and away from the West.'
His concerns were echoed by Jim Risch, the Republican chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who told the newspaper that he knew that Trump understood the threat China was posing to American national security.
It was previously claimed Labour was trying to finalise a deal with Mauritius before Mr Trump officially replaced Joe Biden, who supported the handover, as US President.
But Downing Street later admitted Trump's administration would be given the chance to consider the terms of the agreement.
There is a potential for a rift to open up between No 10 and the White House over whether to progress with the deal, should Trump be unhappy with it.
Critics of the sovereignty deal are hopeful Trump might attempt to veto the agreement once it reaches his desk, with Kennedy and Risch being the latest figures to urge the new president to block the Chaos Islands deal.
The agreement will reportedly be costing UK taxpayers nearly £9billion, and Sir Keir's decision to give up the strategically-important archipelago.
They have voiced fears that handing over control of the islands to Mauritius, viewed as an ally of China, will further open up the Indian Ocean to Beijing's reach.
At Prime Minister's Questions earlier this month, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch took Sir Keir to task over the cost of the Chagos deal.
At Prime Minister's Questions earlier this month, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch took Sir Keir to task over the cost of the Chagos deal
'The Chancellor (Rachel Reeves) is apparently promising to be ruthless in reducing spending. Let me suggest something he should cut,' she told the PM.
'There is no way that we should be giving up British territory in Chagos. He is rushing a deal which will be disastrous and will land taxpayers with a multi-billion pound bill.
'Why does he the PM think British people should pay to surrender something that is already ours?'
Sir Keir responded: 'We inherited a situation where the long-term operation of a vital military base was under threat because of legal challenges.
'The negotiations were started under the last government. The then-foreign secretary came to this House to say why he was starting negotiations and what he wanted to achieve.
'He said the aim was to 'ensure the continued effective operation of the base'. That is precisely this deal has delivered.'
But Ms Badenoch hit back: 'There is no one he can blame for this dud deal except himself.'
This comes as Mauritius Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam questioned the duration of the lease on the Diego Garcia base, a contentious element of negotiations in which the UK plans to cede control of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius.
Mauritius has opened talks with Iran on opening branches of the country's universities, which security experts fearing this could be used to spy on the Diego Garcia base
Having ousted the former government in a November election, Ramgoolam criticised the deal, without going into details on the individual sticking points.
Describing Britain's agreement with the former government as a 'sell out', Ramgoolam told the local L'Express newspaper the lease should also be indexed to inflation and take exchange rates into account.
It should fully recognise Mauritius' ownership of the islands, he added, which could affect the UK's unilateral right to renew the lease.
'It is not only a question of money, but of our sovereignty,' he said, adding that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had been keen to conclude the agreement before President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration on January 20.
Marco Rubio, Trump's pick as secretary of state, has said the deal poses a threat to US security by ceding the archipelago - with its base used by US long-range bombers and warships - to a country he claims is allied with China.
'We are not in a hurry,' Ramgoolam said. 'We remain constant in our claims and will make sure that the medium and long-term interests of the country are being looked into and not only the short term.'
guillotine paper cutter blades Some Chagossians have also criticised the negotiations, saying they cannot endorse an agreement they were not involved in and have said they will protest against it.