World

China fears spark Indian race for cobalt in contested ocean waters

Published

2 years ago

June 19, 2024

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.

(Al Jazeera)

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.

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World

A look at some of the contenders to be Iran’s supreme leader after the killing of Khamenei

Published

9 hours ago

March 2, 2026

Press Room

A look at some of the contenders to be Iran’s supreme leader after the killing of Khamenei

Iran’s leaders are scrambling to replace Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who ruled the country for 37 years before he was killed in the surprise U.S. and Israeli bombardment.

It’s only the second time since the 1979 Islamic Revolution that a new supreme leader is being chosen. Potential candidates range from hard-liners committed to confrontation with the West to reformists who seek diplomatic engagement.

The supreme leader has the final say on all major decisions, including war, peace and the country’s disputed nuclear program.

In the meantime, a provisional governing council composed of President Masoud Pezeshkian, hard-line judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei and senior Shiite cleric Ayatollah Ali Reza Arafi is guiding the country through its biggest crisis in decades. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Sunday that a new supreme leader would be chosen early this week.

The supreme leader is appointed by an 88-member panel called the Assembly of Experts, who by law are supposed to quickly name a successor. The panel consists of Shiite clerics who are popularly elected after their candidacies are approved by the Guardian Council, Iran’s constitutional watchdog.

Khamenei had major influence over both clerical bodies, making it unlikely the next leader will mark a radical departure.

Here are the top contenders.

Mojtaba Khamenei

The son of Khamenei, a mid-level Shiite cleric, is widely considered a potential successor. He has strong ties to Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard but has never held office. His selection could prove awkward, as the Islamic Republic has long criticized hereditary rule and cast itself as a more just alternative.

Ayatollah Ali Reza Arafi

Arafi is a member of the provisional government council. The senior Shiite cleric was handpicked by Khamenei to be a member of the Guardian Council in 2019, and three years later he was elected to the Assembly of Experts. He leads a network of seminaries.

Hassan Rouhani

Rouhani, a relative moderate, was president of Iran from 2013 to 2021 and reached the landmark nuclear agreement with the Obama administration that U.S. President Donald Trump scrapped during his first term. Rouhani served on the Assembly of Experts until 2024, when he said he was disqualified from running for reelection. Rouhani criticized it as an infringement on Iranians’ political participation.

Hassan Khomeini

Khomeini is the most prominent grandson of the founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. He is also seen as a relative moderate, but has never held government office. He currently works at his grandfather’s mausoleum in Tehran.

Ayatollah Mohammed Mehdi Mirbagheri

Mirbagheri is a senior cleric popular with hard-liners who serves on the Assembly of Experts.

He was close to the late Ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Mesbah Yazdi, a fellow hard-liner who wrote that Iran should not deprive itself of the right to produce “special weapons,” a veiled reference to nuclear arms.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Mirbagheri denounced the closure of schools as a “conspiracy.”

He is currently the head of the Islamic Cultural Center in Qom, the main center for Islamic teaching in Iran.

World

US cleared to use British bases for limited strikes on Iranian missile capabilities

Published

10 hours ago

March 2, 2026

Press Room

US cleared to use British bases for limited strikes on Iranian missile capabilities

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The U.S. has been cleared to use British bases for limited strikes on Iran’s missile capabilities after Prime Minister Keir Starmer signed off on the plan, and while U.K. Defense Secretary John Healey stated on Sunday Britain had “stepped up alongside the Americans.”

“The only way to stop the threat is to destroy the missiles at source, in their storage depots or the launchers which are used to fire the missiles,” Starmer confirmed in a recorded statement to the nation.

“The U.S. has requested permission to use British bases for that specific and limited defensive purpose,” he said. “We have taken the decision to accept this request.”

The decision came amid escalation across the Middle East in the wake of U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran and Tehran’s retaliatory missile and drone attacks, raising fears of a broader regional conflict.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer signed off on a plan to use British bases for limited strikes on Iranian missile capabilities. (Kin Cheung / POOL / AFP via Getty Images)

On Feb. 28, in the wake of Operation Epic Fury, Starmer confirmed British planes “are in the sky today” across the Middle East “as part of coordinated regional defensive operations to protect our people, our interests and our allies.”

Healey went on to disclose Sunday that two Iranian missiles were fired in the direction of Cyprus, where Britain maintains key sovereign base areas.

The Royal Air Force confirmed that Typhoon jets operating from Qatar as part of the joint U.K.-Qatar Typhoon Squadron successfully intercepted an Iranian drone heading toward Qatar.

About 300 British personnel are stationed at a naval facility in Bahrain, where Iranian missiles and drones struck nearby areas.

“We’re taking down the drones that are menacing either our bases, our people or our allies,” Healey told “Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips” on Sky. “We’ve stepped up alongside the Americans. We’ve stepped up our defensive forces in the Middle East. We’re flying those sorties.”

ISRAEL’S LARGEST EVER MILITARY FLYOVER HAMMERS IRANIAN MILITARY TARGETS

British Defense Secretary John Healey stressed that the U.K. had “no part” in the American-Israeli strikes on Iran. (Peter Nicholls/Pool via Reuters)

Healey also made sure to stress that the U.K. had “no part” in the U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran and insisted all British actions were defensive. “All our actions are about defending U.K. interests and defending U.K. allies,” he said.

When asked if the U.K. would join the U.S. in offensive action, Healey said, “I’m not going to speculate,” according to Sky News.

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Downing Street also confirmed Feb. 28 that Starmer and President Donald Trump had spoken by phone about the “situation in the Middle East,” the BBC reported.

Fox News Digital has reached out to Downing Street for comment.

Emma Bussey is a breaking news writer for Fox News Digital. Before joining Fox, she worked at The Telegraph with the U.S. overnight team, across desks including foreign, politics, news, sport and culture.

World

Pakistan calls troops, orders 3-day curfew as 24 killed in pro-Iran rallies

Published

12 hours ago

March 2, 2026

Press Room

Pakistan calls troops, orders 3-day curfew as 24 killed in pro-Iran rallies

Army deployed and some areas in northern Gilgit-Baltistan region put under curfew after deadly violence over Khamenei’s killing.

By AFP, Anadolu and The Associated Press

Published On 2 Mar 2026

Pakistan has called in the military and imposed a three-day curfew in some areas following deadly protests over the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a joint United States-Israeli attack on Saturday.

At least 24 people were killed and dozens injured in clashes between protesters and security forces across the country on Sunday, prompting authorities to tighten security around the US embassy and consulates.