Why’s Trump trying to buy Chagos Islands from Mauritius?

Donald Trump is reportedly considering purchasing the Chagos Islands directly from Mauritius, bypassing the UK entirely, to lock down control of the strategically vital Diego Garcia military base.

Donald Trump wants to buy an island. Again.

According to The Guardian, citing a report first broken by The Telegraph, the Trump administration is weighing a plan to purchase the Chagos Islands directly from Mauritius — completely sidestepping the UK — to secure long-term American control of the Diego Garcia military base sitting in the middle of the Indian Ocean.

So why does Trump want it so badly? Location, location, location. Diego Garcia sits roughly 2,360 miles from Iran, hosts a US airbase capable of handling long-range missiles, and has been actively used in the ongoing US-Israel war with Iran. Iran has already launched multiple strikes on the base since the conflict began in February — making its security a very live concern in Washington.

The plan, reportedly floated by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and brought to Trump’s desk, would first require the islands to be granted sovereignty, allowing the US to negotiate a purchase directly with Mauritius. It is, reportedly, not the leading option — but it’s on the table.

The backstory: a UK-Mauritius deal to hand over sovereignty of the islands collapsed in April after the US pulled its support. Some Trump officials reportedly worried that handing the islands to Mauritius — seen as an ally of China — could open the door to espionage.

Meanwhile, Chagossian refugees caught in the middle are frustrated. Delegation leader Louis Olivier Bancoult said bluntly: “We’re still suffering and our position is clear, we have the right to live in our birthplace.”

The UK, for its part, has made one thing crystal clear: “We’ve always been clear we wouldn’t go ahead without US support.”

Trump, it seems, knows it.