UK Scraps Chagos Deal After Trump Criticism

The UK government under Prime Minister Andy Burnham has abandoned its agreement to return the Chagos Archipelago to Mauritius, following repeated criticism from US President Donald Trump. Defence Minister Wes Streeting told the BBC the deal "cannot be implemented in its current form," citing a lack of American support. Trump called the agreement "terrible" during talks with Burnham on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York. The islands hold strategic value due to the joint UK-US airbase on Diego Garcia. Former Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who negotiated the deal, had previously rejected Trump's criticism in parliament. Mauritius has claimed the archipelago for decades, after the islands were separated from the British colony in 1965 and its inhabitants forcibly relocated. Both the International Court of Justice and the UN General Assembly support Mauritius's claim; the deal would have kept Diego Garcia under British control for 99 years in exchange for a multi-billion-pound payment.