FOREIGN SECRETARY Yvette Cooper will meet her US counterpart in Washington after Donald Trump repeatedly urged the Prime Minister not to “give away Diego Garcia” in new threats to the Chagos Islands deal.

Britain’s agreement to hand the territory over to Mauritius is expected to be the main focus of Ms Cooper’s talks with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio following new comments from his boss.

US President Trump this week backtracked on his earlier support for the deal, saying “it may be necessary” for his military to use a joint US-British base on the archipelago to attack Iran.

This latest change of heart followed Britain’s refusal to allow the US to used the Diego Garcia and RAF Fairford bases for an assault on the Islamic Republic, according to The Times.

Mr Trump’s comments, posted to his website Truth Social, came despite an official statement from his government on Tuesday green-lighting the handover.

He told PM Sir Keir Starmer it would be a “big mistake” to go through with the British deal to handover the Chagos Islands’ sovereignty to Mauritius and to lease back the military base.

Thought to be referring to Iran, he added it could be necessary for the US to use Diego Garcia “and the airfield located in Fairford” in order to “eradicate a potential attack by a highly unstable and dangerous regime.” 

The US has been weighing the option of renewed military action against Iran, following recent reports of it positioning a second warship in the region and repeated warning over Iran’s nuclear programme.

A spokesperson for the Stop the War Coalition said: “Why is there a US-UK military base in Diego Garcia in the first place?

“On no account should it be used to bomb Iran.”