The UK has been forced to shelve its legislation to hand the Chagos Islands - which hosts the joint US-UK Diego Garcia military base - back to Mauritius, according to British media reports.
This comes after US President Donald Trump repeatedly criticised the plan and said Britain was "making a big mistake" by handing sovereignty of the islands to Mauritius in exchange for the UK and US having continued use of the airbase.
The base puts US bomber aircraft within 5300km of Iran but requires UK authorisation for use.
Diego Garcia has become critical to US power projection in the wider Middle East and Indo-Pacific as the go-to base at short notice.
American bombers flew directly from Diego Garcia to hit targets in Iraq and Afghanistan during the “War on Terror”.
Middle East Eye ISSN 2634-2456