The United States is examining a proposal to purchase the Chagos Islands from Mauritius, a move that would upend years of delicate diplomacy over one of the Indian Ocean’s most contested archipelagos, according to a report attributed to the Telegraph.

The Chagos Islands, administered by Britain as the British Indian Ocean Territory, include Diego Garcia, a heavily fortified joint US-UK airbase. Long regarded as one of Washington’s most valuable strategic assets, Diego Garcia has served as a launchpad for air operations in the Middle East and Afghanistan, a logistics hub for naval deployments, and a node in global intelligence networks.

London has already signalled its intention to transfer sovereignty of the islands to Mauritius, following a series of international legal setbacks. The International Court of Justice issued an advisory opinion that the UK’s continued administration of the territory was unlawful, and the UN General Assembly backed calls for decolonisation. In response, Britain has been negotiating a framework under which it would hand sovereignty to Mauritius while retaining Diego Garcia on a long-term lease, reportedly for 99 years.

The reported US plan would radically alter that trajectory. Instead of relying on a British lease arrangement, Washington is said to be exploring a direct deal with Mauritius to buy Diego Garcia once the islands are formally recognised as Mauritian territory. Such a purchase would give the US far greater control over the base’s future and remove a layer of British oversight.

Officials in the Trump-era administration were described as increasingly uneasy about Mauritius’s growing economic and diplomatic ties with China and, to a lesser extent, Iran. US strategists fear that Beijing’s expanding footprint in the Indian Ocean, including port and infrastructure projects across the region, could eventually translate into intelligence-gathering or military access uncomfortably close to Diego Garcia.

The reported talks are framed against a backdrop of heightened confrontation involving the US, Israel, and Iran, in which Diego Garcia’s role as a staging ground for long-range bombers and support aircraft has become even more critical. Iranian officials have previously threatened US facilities in the Indian Ocean and warned London over allowing American forces to use British territory for strikes on Iranian targets.

Any attempt by Washington to buy the islands would face intense scrutiny from international lawyers, Chagossian exiles seeking the right to return, and states wary of setting a precedent for the outright sale of disputed territories.