A step of despair? The Iranian regime has returned the giant tanker NASHA from "retirement" - a 30-year-old wreck that is currently limping its way toward Kharg Island.
The NASHA, being towed at a turtle's pace that turns a one-day journey into a crawl of about four days, is capable of storing about two million barrels of oil - roughly two days of standard output of the Iranian oil sector.
On the surface, this move indicates that the oil storage reserves at Kharg are close to full, which will force the regime to stop pumping from the wells - a step expected to cause them severe damage and significantly reduce their output.
Oil experts online are fiercely debating right now whether Iran's hourglass to this point is two weeks, two months, or something in between; but one thing is already quite clear to anyone who hasn't locked themselves into a position: Iran's clock is shorter than that of the U.S.
