Diesel hit a record $6.23 a gallon Monday, and the foreign wars your tax dollars keep funding are the reason your paycheck buys less every week.
Two wars on opposite sides of the globe — the U.S. conflict with Iran and the four-and-a-half-year Ukraine-Russia war — have choked off nearly half the world's seaborne diesel supply. Now the bill is landing on Main Street, where truckers and farmers are paying 63% more than a year ago to fill up, and every product hauled by a diesel engine gets more expensive.
President Trump on Sunday called on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to stop striking Russian refineries. "Mr. Zelenskyy has to do one thing. He has to stop knocking out diesel fuel in Russia," Trump told reporters at the Irish Open in Doonbeg. "Let him go after targets but not diesel fuel because he's causing a shortage of diesel. This isn't done by the Middle East; this is done by what's happening with Russia and Ukraine."
On Monday, Trump announced on Truth Social that both sides had agreed to stand down on energy infrastructure. "Ukraine has agreed not to hit Russian Energy targets," Trump wrote. "Russia has agreed to do, likewise! The World's Diesel price rise is mostly caused by the Russia/Ukraine War, not Iran."
The Kremlin welcomed the push. "Any call on the Kyiv regime to stop attacks on civilian economic infrastructure can only be welcomed," spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, according to Reuters. Peskov also pointed to "instability and new rounds of escalation in the Persian Gulf region" as a driver of market panic.
He's not wrong about the Gulf. The International Energy Agency reported Friday that net diesel and gasoil exports from Gulf countries in August stood at "just over a quarter" of pre-war levels, after the U.S. war with Iran curtailed shipments through the Strait of Hormuz beginning in February.
Add the Russia factor: Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian refineries have slashed production and forced Moscow to ban diesel exports through Sept. 30. Russia is normally the world's second-largest diesel exporter after the U.S. In February, combined Gulf and Russian exports accounted for almost 45% of global seaborne diesel trade, the IEA said. Both spigots are now squeezed.
CNBC, which covered the economics most closely, noted that Brent crude hit $108.41 a barrel Monday, up more than 20% in the past month. WTI crossed $103.54. War premiums are baked into every gallon.
Ukraine has not confirmed Trump's deal. The New York Post reported no immediate response from Kyiv. Ukraine has maintained that Russian refineries are legitimate military targets because they fund and fuel Moscow's invasion. Russia, meanwhile, has been pummeling Ukraine's power grid ahead of winter — two civilians killed by a drone near refineries in Tatarstan, Odesa struck by Russian drones, an oil pipeline damaged in Krasnodar, according to the Post.
CNBC framed the story around Trump "urging" Zelenskyy. The Daily Caller led with the Kremlin's welcome. The Post gave the most ground-level detail on reciprocal strikes. None of the outlets connected the bipartisan war-funding consensus in Washington to the price at the pump — the plain fact that every blank check written for overseas conflict competes directly with the purchasing power of an American paycheck.
Mark Wolfe, executive director of the National Energy Assistance Directors Association, told the Daily Caller there is "considerable uncertainty in oil markets due to the war and the attacks on refineries in Russia." Translation for Main Street: don't expect relief before winter heating bills arrive.
Two wars, thousands of miles apart, both sustained by American commitments, and diesel is at $6.23. Trump is pushing a ceasefire on energy targets. Whether Kyiv complies — and whether Washington's war hawks allow peace to break out — will determine if Main Street gets relief or keeps paying for conflicts it never voted to start.
