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At the White House recently, President Trump gave an assessment of how America's allies

have responded to the U.S.-Israel war in Iran.

He had praised for some, but vented his frustration with others.

Notably, the U.K. and its prime minister, Kier Starramer.

This is not the age of Churchill. I will say the UK has been very, very uncooperative.

His criticism seemed to center around an island.

With that stupid island that they have, that they gave away and took a hundred-year lease.

So what is this island that Donald Trump keeps talking about?

And what's it got to do with Iran?

Well, this island is one of a group of about 60, known as the Chego Islands, in the middle of the Indian Ocean.

Tropical, beautiful, mysterious, so mysterious that one person who knows what really goes on there

said that if you did too, it would give you vertigo.

From the BBC, I'm Asma Khalid in Washington, D.C. And today on the global story,

what exactly happens on the Chego's Islands that makes them so important to the American

president? And why are they at the center of an ever-growing diplomatic rift?

The idea to do an episode about the Chego's Islands initially came to us from two listeners, William and John.

And the first part of this interview was recorded a couple of weeks ago before the United States and Israel started the war with Iran.

We, in fact, had initially planned to run this episode on Monday, March 2nd, but as you all know, the war in Iran started

that prior weekend. So we will be coming back for an update later in this episode.

My name is James Landale. I am the BBC's diplomatic correspondent, which means I cover foreign affairs and international affairs.

Well, it's in that vein that we wanted to have you on the show today because you've been covering international diplomacy for many years here at the BBC.

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