The UK government has rejected the Maldives' concerns over the ceding of sovereignty over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius.
President Mohamed Muizzu sent two letters to the British government saying that the Maldives deserves sovereignty over the Chagos Islands.
"Various courts, rulings and institutions have made clear that the question of sovereignty of the Chagos Archipelago is between the UK and Mauritius," the UK Foreign Office said in a statement in response to Turkey's Anadolu Agency's question about objections by the Maldives.
In May 2025, the British government handed over Chagos to Mauritius without responding to the letter sent by Muizzu on November 10, 2024. The United States, which has a major military base in Diego Garcia, one of the islands in Chagos, initially agreed to the deal.
However, President Donald Trump later rejected the deal and put pressure on the British government. Muizzu sent a second letter after Trump expressed his disapproval of the deal.
On February 2, Muizzu offered Trump a deal. In an interview with Newsweek magazine, Muizzu said that if Chagos' sovereignty is transferred to the Maldives', the USD will be allowed to operate the military base in Diego Garcia. The US government has not commented.
On February 5, Muizzu challenged the decision of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) to demarcate the sea between the Maldives and Chagos.
When ITLOS demarcated the southern border, the Maldives' lost some 200 nautical miles of territory in the ocean.
The Defense Ministry announced that night that it had taken control of the area following Muizzu's decision.
Trump's approval of the British government's agreement with Mauritius came late that night, after the Maldives' government announced the decision to reject the ITLOS decision and take over the lost territory.
