“I think the finalization of the deal is ongoing, but we’ll obviously provide an update as and when we’ve got one,” the spokesman said.

“You will have seen from the president [of the United States] that he recognized the strength of the deal,” the spokesman said. “I think we are now working with the Mauritian government to finalize the deal and sign the treaty.”

Approval from the White House was necessary to broker the deal due to U.S. military cooperation with the U.K. at the joint Diego Garcia base on the archipelago’s largest island.

The Chagos Islands were reorganized under the British Indian Ocean Territory when Mauritius gained independence in 1968. In the decades that followed, approximately 2,000 islanders were deported from the archipelago, which later became home to Diego Garcia.

Residents of the territory are almost entirely British and American military personnel and their families.

The United Nations International Court of Justice ruled in 2019 that the U.K. illicitly separated the Chagos Islands from the small island nation during the independence process.

“This continued administration constitutes a wrongful act,” ICJ President Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf said following the ruling. “The U.K. has an obligation to bring to an end its administration of the Chagos archipelago as rapidly as possible and that all member states must cooperate with the United Nations to complete the decolonization of Mauritius.”

The court’s decision is nonbinding and was initially waved off by the British government, but various institutions within the U.N. pressured the U.K. to make the hand-off.

Former President Joe Biden also reportedly pushed Starmer to give up the islands during his term in office.

British officials confirmed Tuesday that negotiations are “now between [the U.K.] and the Mauritian government to finalize the deal following the discussions with the U.S.”

The continued operation of Diego Garcia will require the U.S. and U.K. to pay for a lease of the island, an arrangement reportedly worth about $1 billion.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, who previously called the surrender of the islands a “strategic disaster,” said the arrangement is an economic burden and threat to national sovereignty.

“The Chagos Islands surrender means we will pay Mauritius £90m a year for 99 years,” the member of Parliament wrote Tuesday on social media. “If inflation averages at 3%, it will cost us over £50bn. This is a terrible deal for British taxpayers.”

Republicans in the U.S. previously urged caution on the proposal, citing Diego Garcia’s role as a crucial point of international security for the U.S. and the U.K.

Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), then the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, urged the government in October 2024 to “ensure that U.S. security interests in the Indo-Pacific are protected” in the sovereignty transfer.

TRUMP MUST STOP THE UK’S DANGEROUS SURRENDER OF THE CHAGOS ISLANDS

Sen. James Risch (R-ID), who became chairman of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee in January, also spoke out against the deal in October, warning, “The U.S. and our allies must take a long-term approach when it comes to making decisions that affect our strategic competition with China, or we will all lose.”

The base is within reach of several key maritime chokepoints, including Bab el Mandeb, the Strait of Hormuz, the Malacca Straits, and the Cape of Good Hope, and is a logistical asset for both military and intelligence operations.