london - The British government confirmed on Wednesday that it would not finalize a deal to hand over sovereignty of the disputed Chagos Islands to Mauritius before consulting with President-elect Donald Trump's administration.

The British and Mauritian governments have been negotiating in recent months to finalize a deal to resolve the future of the disputed Indian Ocean archipelago, which is home to strategically important British and American naval and bomber bases.

But the deal was opposed by Trump and his supporters. Marco Rubio, the president-elect's pick for secretary of state, warned last year that the deal posed a "serious threat" to U.S. national security.

The military base, located on Diego Garcia, the largest of a chain of tropical islands off the tip of India, supports U.S. military operations from Vietnam to Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2008, the United States admitted that it was also used to secretly rendition terror suspects.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer's official spokesman said on Wednesday it was "clearly now right" for the Trump administration to consider any deal.

He said: "It makes perfect sense for the new US government to really consider the details and we will obviously have discussions with them. We will only agree a deal that is in the best interests of the UK and protects our national security."

Media reports this week suggested that British and Mauritian officials are rushing to complete the deal before Trump enters the White House.

In 1965, three years before Mauritius gained independence, Britain carved the islands off from the former British colony of Mauritius and called the Chagos Archipelago the British Indian Ocean Territory.

In the 1960s and 1970s, the British expelled as many as 2,000 people from the island so that the U.S. military could build the Diego Garcia base.

Mauritius has long disputed British sovereignty over the archipelago, and in recent years the United Nations and its Supreme Court have urged Britain to return the Chagos Islands to Mauritius.

Britain agreed to do so in a draft deal in October, but it was delayed due to a change of government in Mauritius and a reported dispute over the cost of leasing Diego Garcia air base.

The Mauritian government issued a statement on Wednesday saying the cabinet had been "informed of the developments" and that talks in London would continue.