BRICS, Bombs, and the West’s Nightmare

The public revelation in March 2025 that Iran had uncovered a 7,000-ton deposit of high purity antimony wasn’t just geological news it was a shift in the global balance of power. This brittle, silvery metal is the unspoken of modern warfare and next generation technology hardening armor piercing rounds, enabling hypersonic flight, forming the backbone of solid state batteries, and even unlocking quantum computing, as Iran sits on this newfound treasure, the United States is staring into an abyss of strategic scarcity, driven by a ruthless mineral blockade and its own lethal addiction to militarization.

For decades, China dominated antimony supply chains, controlling an estimated 60% of global production and even more of its processing. This dominance became a weapon. Late last year, Beijing systematically restricted exports, culminating in an outright ban on shipments to the U.S.  a retaliatory strike against American semiconductor controls. Prices exploded, quadrupling to over $60,000 per metric ton, crippling U.S. battery makers and defence contractors who suddenly faced a national emergency.

Enter the talks in London, June 2025. Western media painted them as a climate issue , but this was a dangerous fiction. The core agenda was minerals, specifically China’s hold on the critical elements fueling America’s war machine. Beijing’s message was chillingly clear  No easing of restrictions on minerals destined for U.S. weapons. “You are not allowed to use our minerals in your weapons,” they declared. The U.S. delegation didn’t just fail they left empty handed, humiliated. The very next day, China tightened its controls. This was clear the era of Western resource dominance is over. The U.S. is running out of mineral leverage, fast.

Iran’s massive antimony discovery is looked as dynamite. Closely aligned with the BRICS bloc expanding to include Iran, Ethiopia, Egypt, UAE, and Argentina, Iran now possesses a gatekeeper resource outsidethe Western-controlled financial and logistical sphere. BRICS isn’t sleeping. Active discussions are underway for a revolutionary critical minerals cooperation framework  resource for technology swaps. Imagine the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s cobalt wealth traded for Iran’s antimony, priced and exchanged within the bloc, bypassing the dollar and Western sanctions entirely.

Thisis the terrifying prospect for Washington and its allies. It’s not about Iran’s nuclear program  multiple Western intelligence assessments reportedly find zero evidence of active weaponization efforts. Tehran has even invited further inspections. The nuclear narrative is a convenient smokescreen, a manufactured casus belli . The real target is Iran’s emergence as an uncontrollable strategic supplier. Bombing Iran this weekend isn’t about preventing a bomb it’s a preemptive strike to cripple a nascent mineral axis before it consolidates, denying the West access to resources it can no longer command.

Here lies the brutal truth the West refuses to confront Antimony isn’t primarily valuable for building hospitals or renewable energy grids. Its supreme value lies in building better missiles, more advanced surveillance systems, and enabling the next quantum leap in battlefield technology. The problem isn’t a lackof antimony globally,it’s the West’s addiction to funneling every critical resource into the perpetual war machine. This machine is sustained by a revolving door between defence contractors and the Pentagon, where every new source of scarcity becomes another strategic justification for bombs, coups, and resource grabs.

Africa, and particularly the mineral rich Horn of Africa, stands directly in the hairs of this escalating mineral blood sport. The continent holds roughly 30% of the world’s known mineral reserves 85% of manganese, 80% of platinum and chromium, and the DRC alone possesses an estimated 70% of global cobalt reserves. Historically, this wealth has been a curse, fueling kleptocracy, conflict, and underdevelopment as foreign powers and local elites colluded to plunder resources with minimal benefit to citizens. Now, as the US-China rivalry intensifies, Africa is once again being courted aggressively, but under the dangerous pretext of a “World War III” framed as a war of trade and technology.

Projects like the US-backed Lobito Corridor, renovating railways to access Congolese cobalt and Zambian copper, are touted as development. But they often prioritize extractive speed and security of supply for Western industries over genuine local value addition, transparency, or environmental safeguards . Agreements are opaque, signed in shadows, leaving African populations vulnerable to repeating the devastating cycles of exploitation. As one expert starkly warned, without democratic accountability and robust oversight, “national elites view national resource endowments as a mechanism to raise quick and steady sources of private revenue to entrench their rule”.

The path the West is hurtling down  bombing Iran to maintain control over mineral flows  is not just morally bankrupt it’s strategically myopic and catastrophically dangerous. It guarantees wider conflict, further destabilizes global supply chains, and turns resource-rich regions like Africa into even more intense battlegrounds for proxy wars and exploitative deals. The psychic warnings of global war in 2025, fueled by AI-driven conflict and resource scarcity, may sound like superstition, but they resonate because they reflect the palpable tension of our times.

Africa cannot afford to be passive terrain in this new Great Game. The Horn of Africa, with its strategic location and untapped mineral wealth, is especially vulnerable. The continent must heed the harsh lessons of the past. Refuse to be a supplier of minerals solely destined for weapons systems that may one day be turned on your own people or fuel conflicts destroying other parts of the Global South. Demand partnerships focused on civiliantechnology and sustainable development.

Follow the model Botswana carved with diamonds. Enforce local processing, manufacturing, and participation throughout the value chain. Raw bauxite ore earns $92/ton processed aluminum commands $2,438/ton. Capture this value. Policies demanding local refining are meaningless without the infrastructure and skilled workforce to support them  invest relentlessly in both.

Audit every mineral agreement. Publish every contract. Empower parliaments, civil society, and communities to monitor and challenge deals. Break the vicious cycle where “foreign firms circumvent national regulations so long as they work closely with regime elites”. Your resources belong to your people, not to global powers or corrupt cabals.

The BRICS framework for resource cooperation, while not without its own risks, offers a potential counterweight to Western dominance. Use it strategically to negotiate better terms, access technology transfers, and build South-South supply chains on principles of mutual benefit, not exploitation. But remain vigilant against new forms of dependency.

Build the infrastructure reliable power, transport, communications  needed to truly harness mineral wealth. Develop the human capital engineers, environmental scientists, metallurgists required to move beyond raw exports. The African Mining Vision exists; it needs ratification, funding, and political will.

The antimony crisis is not an isolated shortage. It’s the canary in the coalmine, a terrifying preview of a future where every critical mineral –cobalt, lithium, rare earths becomes a trigger for conflict, a weapon in a new Cold War fought with sanctions, drones, and ultimately, bombs. The West’s frantic attempts to restart mines in Mexico or Idaho, or its desperate courtship of dubious regimes, reveal a system in panic, unwilling to confront its own militaristic addiction.

Africa, awaken! Your soil holds the keys to humanity’s green and digital future, or its descent into a resource fueled abyss. Do not let your minerals become the bullets in the next world war. Reject the false choice between East and West. Demand partnerships built on dignity, development, and peace.

 Seize this moment not just to avoid the curse, but to forge a new destiny where your resources empower your people and build bridges, not bombs. The bomber jets heading for Tehran are a warning siren for the entire Global South. Heed it before the next target is drawn over your own resource-rich lands. The mineral iron curtain is falling whose side of history will you stand on? This isn’t just about antimony  it’s about autonomy. And the time to claim it is now.

By Samiya Mohammed,Researcher,Horn Review