With the Strait of Hormuz unstable, India strengthening its grip on the Malacca Strait with a $9.9‑billion plan to develop Great Nicobar Island in the Indian Ocean The strategic importance of Greater Nicobar, the southernmost and largest of the Nicobar islands of India that dominate the Malacca Strait – a critical maritime chokepoint through which 60% of global trade passes – have once again come into focus due to the turmoil in the Gulf of Hormuz amid the ongoing Iran War. Against that backdrop, the Indian government earlier this month submitted a draft master plan for developing Greater Nicobar island. The group of Andaman and Nicobar islands (ANI), governed as a single union territory by the central government of India, covers an area of 8,249 square kilometers.…