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For twenty years, China spent hundreds of billions of dollars preparing for one specific nightmare: the day the Strait of Hormuz closes. In February 2026, it finally happened. US and Israeli strikes on Iran shut the world's most important oil chokepoint — the passage carrying a fifth of the world's oil and nearly half of China's crude imports. Iran mined the strait, attacked ships, and forced the survivors through the "Tehran Toll Booth," a Revolutionary Guard channel charging millions of dollars per transit. Only one flag guaranteed safe passage: China's. Foreign tankers began faking Chinese identities just to survive the crossing.

Then Washington changed the lock. The US Navy imposed its own blockade — targeting every ship that paid Iran's toll — and Beijing's twenty-year escape plan was caught in a trap with two jaws.