World
China fears spark Indian race for cobalt in contested ocean waters
India is scrambling to secure rights to explore a cobalt-rich underwater mountain in the middle of the Indian Ocean but its bid has come up against competing claims at a time when Sri Lanka, too, is looking to mine the region for precious minerals.
The urgency behind India’s application comes from fears over China’s presence in the Indian Ocean, at a time when the world’s second-largest economy already dominates the global cobalt supply chain, Indian officials and analysts told Al Jazeera.
Cobalt is a critical mineral widely used in electric vehicles and batteries and is seen as a vital element in the green energy transition.
In January, India had approached the Jamaica-based International Seabed Authority, seeking approval to explore the cobalt-rich Afanasy Nikitin Seamount, which is in the central Indian Ocean, east of the Maldives and about 1,350 km (850 miles) from the Indian coast. Formed in 1994, the ISA is an autonomous international organisation mandated by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea to regulate economic activity on the seabed.
India also paid a $500,000 fee to the ISA to consider its application, in which it spelled out its desire to conduct extensive geophysical, geological, biological, oceanographic and environmental studies in the proposed area over 15 years. The seamount consists of 150 blocks spread over 3,000sq km (1,158 sq miles).
But while evaluating India’s application, the ISA found that Afanasy Nikitin Seamount lies entirely within an area also claimed by another country as lying within the boundaries of its continental shelf, according to a note shared by the organisation with Al Jazeera. Though the ISA did not name this other country in its response to India, experts believe Sri Lanka is the nation the seabed authority was referring to. A country’s continental shelf is the edge of its landmass beneath the ocean.
According to a note shared by the ISA with Al Jazeera, the seabed authority sought a response from India to its finding of the competing territorial claims. But on March 12, India said it would not be able to respond in time for the ISA to consider its comments during the ISA’s 29th Session of the Legal and Technical Commission, which is considering the application.
As a result, the ISA note states that India’s application has been “put on hold”. The ISA is expected to review the application again once India responds.
Sri Lanka’s claim
Usually, a country’s continental shelf extends up to 200 nautical miles (370km) from its shore, marking out an exclusive economic zone which only that nation can exploit for economic purposes, even though ships of other countries can pass through unimpeded.
But coastal nations can appeal to the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) arguing that the outer limits of their continental shelves extend beyond 200 nautical miles.
That is what Sri Lanka did in 2009, applying for an extension of the limits of its continental shelf from 200 nautical miles to a much larger area. The CLCS is yet to decide on Sri Lanka’s claim but if it is accepted, the Afanasy Nikitin Seamount would fall within Sri Lanka’s nautical boundaries.
The CLCS, which is tasked with examining claims by nations to extended continental shelf boundaries, has in the past accepted such requests: Pakistan, Australia and Norway have rights over maritime territories that stretch beyond 200 nautical miles from their shores, for instance.
In 2010, India responded to Sri Lanka’s submission before the CLCS, without objecting to its smaller neighbour’s claims. But in 2022, it changed its position to argue that Sri Lanka’s claims would harm India’s interests. India requested the commission not to “consider and qualify” the submission made by Sri Lanka.
Al Jazeera sought comments from the governments of India and Sri Lanka on their competing claims, but has not received any response.
Chinese presence
But it is not Sri Lanka that New Delhi is most concerned about, say analysts.
A senior maritime law expert said that India’s move appears to be driven more by a desire to establish a foothold in the area to deter any Chinese presence than by any immediate exploration aims.
“India’s claim is not aimed at starting exploration immediately but at establishing its presence and stake before China enters the picture,” said the maritime expert, who is now a senior official in the Indian judiciary, and requested anonymity because of his position.
According to the ISA, China, Germany and South Korea currently have contracts for deep-sea exploration in different parts of the Indian Ocean.
Nikhilesh Nedumgattunmal, an assistant professor of maritime law at Dr Ambedkar Law University in Chennai, India, said the location of the Afanasy Nikitin Seamount – far outside the exclusive economic zones of any country – made India’s case before the ISA strong. “India has the right to seek exploration permission from the ISA,” he told Al Jazeera.
What’s at stake?
KV Thomas, a retired scientist from the National Centre for Earth Science Studies in Thiruvananthapuram, India, echoed the assessment of the senior judiciary official on China being a key factor behind India’s decision.
Thomas said that India’s deep-sea mining initiatives are at a nascent stage. Yet, in recent years, the country has demonstrated its ambition.
In 2021, it launched a Deep Ocean Mission to explore deep sea resources, with an allocation of $500m for a five-year period.
In 2023, the Indian government said that under the Deep Ocean Mission, it was developing a crewed deep sea mining submersible, which would carry out “exploratory mining of polymetallic nodules from the sea bed”. Polymetallic nodules, also called manganese nodules, are rock concretions that serve as vital sources of critical minerals, including cobalt.
At the moment, China controls 70 percent of the world’s cobalt and 60 percent of its lithium and manganese – other critical minerals – according to the International Renewable Energy Agency. But India, which has set a deadline of 2070 to get to net-zero emissions, needs access to these minerals to fuel its clean energy economy.
United States President Donald Trump has pledged there will be no tolls for passage through the Strait of Hormuz, unless they are collected by his own country.
Trump’s statement, made in a Saturday afternoon post on Truth Social, is the latest sign that a recently signed memorandum of understanding (MOU) may be unravelling.
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“There will be NO TOLLS in the Hormuz Strait for 60 days during the Cease Fire Period, and there will be NO TOLLS after the 60 day period has expired,” Trump wrote, “unless they are imposed by and for the United States of America.”
Since the US and Israel launched a war against Iran on February 28, Iran has successfully used the Strait of Hormuz as a pressure point, closing the strategic waterway to traffic.
But under the terms of Wednesday’s ceasefire memorandum, the strait is supposed to reopen for an interim period of 60 days. During that time, Iran is barred from charging vessels for passage.
On Saturday, however, Iran’s joint military command said it had closed the Strait of Hormuz, citing a “clear breach” of the memorandum’s commitments.
US Central Command (CENTCOM), the agency that oversees military operations in the region, denied that report and maintained that the traffic continues to flow through the waterway.
The Strait of Hormuz has long been a flashpoint in the conflict between the US and Iran. Nearly 20 percent of the world’s oil and natural gas is transported through the strait, as well as about 30 percent of the global fertiliser trade.
Closure of the strait has caused global fuel costs to soar and has tested agricultural sectors across the world.
Trump had responded to Iran’s chokehold over the strait by imposing a US naval blockade on Iran’s ports in the region.
But that naval blockade was lifted under the terms of Wednesday’s memorandum. The deal also paused fighting on all fronts in the regional conflict, including in Lebanon.
The memorandum, though, was not intended as a long-term deal. It serves as a launching point for negotiations on key issues, including the future of Iran’s nuclear programme.
Several points of divergence also went unaddressed in the memorandum. Nowhere does the memo say that future tolls cannot be collected from the strait after the 60-day period expires.
Before the war, there was no charge for passage through the strait. Trump himself said in an interview with The New York Times that the waterway should remain “permanently toll-free”.
But he appeared to reverse course in Saturday’s post, once again floating the possibility that the US could extract tolls in the strait, while barring Iran from doing so.
No fees should be levied, Trump wrote, “unless they are imposed by and for the United States of America, should the deal not be completed”.
He explained that such a charge would compensate the US “for services rendered as the Guardian Angel to the countries of the Middle East for purposes of both past, present, and future reimbursement of costs”.
Trump used similar language in his New York Times interview earlier this week, floating the US becoming “the guardian of the Middle East” in exchange for 20 percent of its revenue.
Saturday’s post is not the first time Trump has mused about the US imposing tolls in the strait, either.
In April, for instance, he discussed the idea with reporters, saying, “What about us charging tolls? I’d rather do that than let them have them. Why shouldn’t we? We’re the winner. We won.”
There has been no indication that Trump’s plans have been officially presented to countries in the region, many of whom have struck a careful balance in their dealings with both the US and Iran during the war.
Iranian officials, meanwhile, have repeatedly said they will not rule out imposing tolls in the strait, framing the issue as a matter of sovereignty and regional negotiation. The strait sits between Iran and Oman.
Further discussions are expected on the matter in the coming weeks.
But such negotiations have been thrown into jeopardy amid ongoing Israeli military operations in Lebanon, which threaten to violate Wednesday’s ceasefire memorandum.
Iran claimed that Saturday’s closure of the strait was a result of new Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon, which killed dozens of people after the ceasefire was announced.
Iranian officials have also said that any upcoming talks should focus on proper implementation of the initial memorandum, and that the 60-day negotiating period stipulated in Wednesday’s deal would begin after that was settled.
Pakistan, a top mediator between the US and Iran, has said that follow-up talks are set to begin in Switzerland on Sunday.
Switzerland’s Federal Department of Foreign Affairs has confirmed that an Iranian delegation, led by parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, has already arrived for the negotiations.
On the US side, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, special envoy Steve Witkoff and Vice President JD Vance are expected to attend.
Vance departed for Switzerland late Saturday.
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June 19, 2026
World
Man charged with attempted murder, released after allegedly forcing toddler into crocodile enclosure at zoo
Man FORCES child into crocodile enclosure
A British man has been arrested after allegedly forcing a 3-year-old boy into a crocodile enclosure at a zoo. The child suffered critical injuries, and authorities say the suspect did not know the boy as the investigation continues.
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A man was released from custody on Friday after he was charged with attempted murder for allegedly forcing a 3-year-old boy into a crocodile enclosure at a zoo.
Cambridgeshire police said that the man, who remains unidentified, wasn’t fit to be interviewed.
The boy suffered critical injuries in the incident at Johnsons of Old Hurst, a farm and zoo in Huntingdon, England, north of London.
The 30-year-old man will remain on bail until Sept. 30, pending further inquiries.
GEORGIA MOM’S WALMART TRIP DEVOLVES INTO ‘TUG-OF-WARRING’ IN DESPERATE ATTEMPT TO SAVE HER SON
A crocodile rests inside an enclosure at Johnsons of Old Hurst, a farm and zoo in Old Hurst, Cambridgeshire, Britain, on April 14, 2026. (Dorota Dee Trajdos/Reuters)
“The man, who is not known to the victim, was assessed as not being fit for interview,” police said in a statement.
The boy is in stable condition, after reportedly suffering a broken arm and pelvis.
He was saved from the crocodile by Tracey Johnson, the wife of the zoo’s owner.
MOTHER JUMPS INTO WATER TO SAVE 4-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER WHO FELL BETWEEN CRUISE SHIP AND DOCK
“I know Tracey very well and she’s a lovely lady and it’s nothing more than I’d expect from her,” a local told BBC News. “She’d always put her own life at risk to save someone else. She’s an extraordinary lady and very brave.
The villager added that Johnson put herself in “immense danger” during the rescue.
The owners said their tropical house would remain closed until further notice.
Crocodiles rest inside an enclosure at Johnsons of Old Hurst farm and zoo in Old Hurst, Cambridgeshire, Britain, on April 14, 2026. (Dorota Dee Trajdos/Reuters)
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the boy and his family following the incident that occurred today,” the owners wrote on social media.
Johnsons of Old Hurst is a farm and zoo north of London in Huntingdon, England. (Google Maps)
Huntingdonshire district councillor Charlotte Lowe said she couldn’t “fathom how it’s happened because they’ve got all the right protection and safety equipment, for want of a better word, in there,” The Guardian reported.
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Fox News Digital has reached out to the Cambridgeshire Constabulary for comment.
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