Iran’s Leaders Turn to Old Supertanker to Survive US Blockade

Iran deployed a 30-year-old oil tanker for the first time in years to act as emergency floating storage as the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports throttles its exports, a sanctions monitoring group said.The large crude carrier Nasha, which can hold up to 2 million barrels of oil, was visible on public ship-tracking services last week as it sailed in the Persian Gulf toward Kharg Island, Iran’s main export terminal.On Sunday, satellite imagery showed the supertanker, which measures nearly 1,100 feet long, loading at Kharg’s western jetty, but it was no longer there on Wednesday, analysts at the nonprofit United Against Nuclear Iran said....Its reactivation may point to mounting pressure on Iran’s oil industry—a major economic lifeline—as the ongoing U.S. blockade amid the 2-month-old war restricts Tehran’s exports and forces it to store rather than sell its energy.Iran still has 18 empty supertankers that it can call on as floating storage, analysts at TankerTrackers.com said in an update this week. The U.S. Blockade Is WorkingThe real challenge for Iran will be to exit the U.S. blockade area, something no Iranian tanker has managed thus far.While Nasha was loading at Kharg on Sunday, another tanker was seen doing the same at its