Diesel fuel hits record levels as Trump’s forever war on Iran continues

Diesel fuel hit a record high on Monday and the price of crude oil rose on Tuesday as it becomes increasingly clear that President Donald Trump has started a war with Iran that he cannot win. These prices are very bad news for Americans, who are feeling the effects of both persistent inflation and stagnant wages. And that’s to say nothing of the human toll the war takes, including a US strike on a wedding party last week that killed four civilians and wounded dozens more.

The average price per gallon of diesel fuel in the U.S. hit $5.90 on Labor Day, according to AAA. This is the highest rate ever recorded in the United States. The current average price for a gallon of gasoline is $4.15, down from the all-time high of $5.05 reached in June 2022, but still well above the prewar price of $2.98.

Brent crude oil hovered around the $100 mark on Tuesday and is currently hovering just above $99. That’s lower than the $114 price reached in early May, but significantly higher than July, when the price fell to $71.

The question arises: why will oil prices rise? Nowbecause the reality in Iran has changed little over the past six months. The US and Israel first attacked Iran on February 28, and since then both sides have exchanged fire fairly regularly, despite claims of a “ceasefire” in June. One commentator gave a very plausible explanation on CNBC Tuesday.

In an apparent echo of his own Aug. 17 remark, Bob McNally, president of Rapidan Energy Group, said on air Tuesday that China had previously been on an “extreme diet,” referring to the country’s reduction in oil purchases immediately after the war began. In February 2026, just before the war, China imported about 12 million barrels of oil per day, according to Bloomberg. By June, that figure had nearly halved, but is now approaching 10 million a day.

McNally also explained that strategic oil reserves around the world are dwindling. The US Strategic Petroleum Reserve is currently at its lowest level since 1982, according to Reuters. The final important factor, according to McNally, is that markets are operating under what he calls an “optimism bias,” believing Trump will wind down the war and hopefully allow more oil to flow out of the Strait of Hormuz.

“Summer is over. There has been no peace. The war is still going on,” McNally said.

Indeed, the war continues to drag on, with no end in sight. Iranian state media said the military managed to capture an unmanned underwater vehicle in the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, although the Pentagon tried to play down the news, saying it was “malfunctioning” and not carrying classified information. And on Tuesday, Fox News reported that US troops attacked oil tankers near the strategically important island of Kharg and the port city of Jask.

In response, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Navy warned crews of oil tankers operating near Kuwait and Bahrain to immediately abandon their ships, the Associated Press reported.

Trump entered the war without a plan for a successful exit. US troops are currently escorting several allied ships through the strait and enforcing a blockade of Iranian oil leaving the area for sale on the international market. But it is unclear how the US would even be able to leave in such a scenario. Iran will likely continue to shoot at tankers in the strait, and the US will simply have to stay unless it wants Iran to have full control of passage through the toll system. As Colin Powell sadly said before the 2003 invasion of Iraq: “You broke it, it belongs to you.”

According to ABC News, the United States has reported 18 killed and 820 wounded American troops since the start of the war. At least 3,000 Iranians, 4,000 Lebanese and 23 Israelis were also killed, according to NBC News.