BLUF: America’s Indian Ocean Outpost
In a town where the news cycles are shorter than ever and the constant barrage of announcements are exhausting to even the most avid news consumers, earlier this week there was one that you may have just missed. On Tuesday, President Donald Trump blessed British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s deal that the UK would hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius and end more than two centuries of direct British rule. The deal, lambasted last year by Republicans here at home and by the Conservative party in Britain, will see the archipelago’s largest island, Diego Garcia, home to a joint American-UK military base, enter into a 99-year lease.
So why should you care about this? Well, the tiny island is nestled deep in the Indian Ocean and just so happens to be at the center of international shipping lanes that provides the U.S. and our allies with force projection capabilities into several pivotal theaters. In fact, the base at Diego Garcia served as a critical hub for America’s operations in both Gulf Wars and the post 9/11 invasion of Afghanistan, continuing to serve as a strategic outpost for America’s security.
Directly following this announcement on Tuesday, on Wednesday of this week, the Pentagon announced it had moved six B-2 stealth bombers to the island base in a massive show of force seen by experts as sending a clear message to Iran (which is within striking distance). That message was heard loud and clear in Tehran where senior Iranian military leaders have reportedly called for pre-emptive strikes on the island base in order to stop a US build up that they believe would threaten their nation.
The complexity of this situation enveloped even more nation states with our partners in the Gulf refusing to help stage American assets for any strike on Iran. Oh and not to mention, China has been actively courting Mauritius, the nation now in charge of Diego Garcia. With the strategic importance of this itty bitty island in the Indian Ocean at stake, we just thought it might be something you shouldn’t miss in the fast paced news cycles of today’s Washington.
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