Fuel Shock Spreads From Hormuz to U.S. Households
WASHINGTON -- American motorists faced record diesel prices and gasoline near historic highs on Saturday as President Donald Trump’s war on Iran continued to disrupt global energy flows, with the pain at the pump emerging as the most visceral cost of an aggression that critics say has punished consumers far more than any adversary.
The national average for diesel climbed to an all-time high of $6.44 a gallon, with refineries already running at 97% to 98% of capacity—leaving almost no spare plant to make more of the fuel that moves most American freight.
Gasoline reached $4.46 a gallon nationally, with California at $6.11, according to U.S. News & World Report. Six states have now crossed the $5 threshold.
The surge represents a roughly 50% increase in gasoline prices and a 71% jump in diesel since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on February 28. Brent crude settled above $100 a barrel this month, its highest close since May, as attacks disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz—the conduit for about 20% of global oil supplies.
“Consumers should plan for higher prices for a longer period of time,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, which tracks U.S. fuel prices.
Tom Kloza, global head of energy analysis at Oil Price Information Service, warned that diesel’s reach extends far beyond the trucking industry: “Everything that moves across the country and all agricultural products depend on spending money on this fuel.”
He added that higher diesel costs could also drive up utility bills, particularly in the Northeast, where about 4 million households rely on heating oil made from distillates.
The economic pain has become a political flashpoint. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer took to the Senate floor to call out Trump for saying, “I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation.”
“Trump has forced American taxpayers to sink at least $29 billion into a war that still has no endgame,” Schumer said, noting that Americans are paying “over four and a half dollars a gallon at the pump, more than a dollar and a half above what it was when Trump started this war”.
A New Yorker analysis, cited by Iran Newspaper, stated that the war has become Trump’s “biggest economic and political mistake,” eroding his economic approval and weakening Republicans’ standing ahead of the November midterms.
The White House had hoped to campaign on economic growth and falling inflation; instead, inflation has reaccelerated, with the May rate hitting 4.2%, the highest in over three years, and job growth slowing sharply.
European Households Squeezed
Across the Atlantic, the crisis is compounding an already fragile recovery. Eurozone inflation rose to 3.3% in August, up from 2.9% in July, with energy prices jumping 14.3%.
The European Central Bank raised its policy rate to 2.50% this month, citing renewed inflationary pressure linked to the energy shock, and lifted its 2026 inflation forecast to 3%.
Fuel prices have risen across major European markets. In Italy, petrol reached about €2.05 per liter and diesel €2.17. In France, diesel stood at about €2.30 per liter. Germany saw E10 petrol at about €2.24, while the Netherlands remained among the most expensive markets, with diesel at €2.49. The UK recorded average petrol at 167.9 pence and diesel at 189.4 pence.
European gas storage stands at only 65.6% of capacity—the lowest for this time of year in 15 years—while gas prices have risen more than 75% over two months. The ECB faces a dilemma: tightening monetary policy to contain inflation risks suppressing consumption and investment, while inaction could entrench price pressures.
The World Bank’s chief economist, Indermit Gill, warned in July that the worst-case scenario of a six-month-or-longer war is “close to becoming reality.” Under that scenario, global growth could slow to 1.3% and headline inflation could climb to 4.5%.
Gill noted that prolonged fighting and damage to West Asian oil infrastructure would disrupt fertilizer, helium, and sulfur shipments needed for agriculture, deepening food insecurity and potentially triggering higher interest rates.
For ordinary families, the abstract chain of causation—from a strike on a tanker in Hormuz to a higher grocery bill—has become painfully concrete. One New York mother, 25-year-old Garcia, who shares a single Toyota with her partner and mother-in-law while raising two children, told Taiwan’s PTS News that she now relies on a food bank to feed her family and takes every overtime shift she can.
“I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation,” Trump said when asked about the war’s cost to households.
For millions of drivers and families across two continents, that statement now defines the economic reality of a conflict they did not choose and cannot afford.