The US, Denmark and Greenland have signed a defense agreement that would allow Washington to establish military facilities on the Arctic island, the BBC reported.
Signed on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, the new pact updates a 1951 agreement that governs US military operations in Greenland.
Under the revised terms, the US could establish defense areas at Narsarsuaq in the south and Mestersvig on the east coast.
Narsarsuaq has a former airfield and access to deep water, while Mestersvig is a remote outpost used by a Danish military patrol.
The pact also allows the US to expand operations at Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, its only active base on the island.
Washington, Copenhagen, and Nuuk have yet to agree on how the sites will be developed and used, and the pact sets no troop numbers or construction timeline.
From Annexation Threats to a Defense Deal
The signed agreement expands US military access, but transfers no territory to Washington.
It gives US military aircraft, vessels and forces broader rights to travel between defense areas through Greenland and its surrounding waters.
It also provides a process for proposing further military sites, with implementation details subject to agreement among the parties.
Countries outside NATO would be barred from maintaining military installations or a persistent force in Greenland unless the three governments agree otherwise.
The pact follows more than a year of tension after President Donald Trump repeatedly said the US should take control of Greenland, raising the prospect of buying or forcibly annexing the territory.
Trump argued that US control was necessary to prevent Russia or China from gaining influence over the strategically located island.
He also cast Greenland as essential to his proposed Golden Dome missile defense system.
