Is There Really a “Toll Gate” in the Strait of Hormuz? 　ホルムズ海峡に「料金所」は本当にあるのか

$2m transit claim lacks credibility, dollar payments pose sanctions risk, yuan settlement also speculated for China

200万ドル通航説に現実味乏しく、米ドル払いは制裁リスク　中国は人民元決済観測も

Information has been circulating in the shipping market that vessels can transit the Strait of Hormuz by paying $2m (approximately ¥320m). However, according to additional reporting by Maritime Bridge Japan involving a European broker based in Singapore, European shipowners, Japanese leasing stakeholders, and a Japanese shipowner with bulk carriers stranded inside the Persian Gulf, the dividing line between those countries able to transit and those unable to do so is not the presence or absence of a toll gate or the scale of any transit fee, but rather the fact that such payments fall under “sanctions exposure” and what is increasingly described as a “payment barrier”.

■The full article covers the following points (approximately 3,000 words)

→ Is the “$2m transit claim” really factual — inconsistencies in Iranian explanations and the widening gap in information on the ground

→ The real reason Western shipping cannot move — US dollar settlement and sanctions risk that cannot be reduced to a question of “high or low” cost

→ Why China, Pakistan and Thailand were able to transit — disparities driven by intergovernmental negotiations and currency differences

→ Shipowners, charterers, insurers, financial institutions — the operational reality that shipping cannot proceed if even one party halts

→ What is happening in the Strait of Hormuz — a new maritime geopolitics shaped not only by military factors but also by currency, sanctions and exceptional approvals

(The remainder of the article is available in both English and Japanese. The Japanese version follows the English text.)

ホルムズ海峡に「料金所」は本当にあるのか

200万ドル通航説に現実味乏しく、米ドル払いは制裁リスク　中国は人民元決済観測も

ホルムズ海峡を巡り、200万ドル（約3億2000万円）を支払えば通航できるとの「情報」が海運市場で広がっている。Maritime Bridge Japanがシンガポール在住の欧州系ブローカー、欧州船主、日本のリース関係者、ペルシャ湾内でバルカーを足止めされている日本船主に追加取材したところ、通れた国と通れない国の差を分けているのは、料金所の有無や通航許可の金額の多寡ではなく、「サンクション対象」である点と「決済の壁」という見方が浮上した。

■記事本文では以下の内容を読むことができます（記事全文約3000文字）

→「200万ドル通航説」は本当に事実なのか――イラン側説明の揺れと現場で広がる情報の温度差

→西側海運が動けない本当の理由――「高いか安いか」では済まない米ドル決済と制裁リスク

→中国、パキスタン、タイはなぜ通れたのか――国家間交渉と通貨の違いが生む通航格差

→船主、用船者、保険者、金融機関……誰か1者でも止めれば成立しない海運実務の現実

→ホルムズ海峡で起きているのは何か――軍事だけではない「通貨・制裁・例外承認」の新たな海上地政学

（続きは英語と日本語で書かれた本文でお読みください。日本語の記事は英文記事に続いて掲載されています）