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US Diesel Prices Reach New High Amid Iran Conflict
Confirmed
In Short: The average price for diesel in the US has surged to $5.85 per gallon, surpassing previous highs set during the Ukraine conflict, according to AAA.
The average price for one gallon of diesel in the US has hit $5.85, compared to an average of $3.71 a year ago, reflecting the surge in wholesale oil prices since the Iran conflict began in late February, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA).
Fuel prices have soared, even though gasoline demand typically decreases this time of year, bringing down gas prices. Higher crude oil costs have led to increased costs for Americans, with diesel and gas prices costing households over $741 each, according to a tracker from Brown University.
The everyday consumer will see higher diesel prices in the consumer goods they purchase, said Susan Bell, senior vice president of downstream research at Rystad Energy. The average price for diesel has reached a new record of $5.85 as of Sept. 4, surpassing the prior high of $5.8159 set back in June 2022, according to AAA.
Diesel prices began their monthslong rise in late February, with the launch of the Iran war and the soaring oil prices that came with it, amid limits on how much could flow through the Strait of Hormuz, according to NBC News.
Background
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and historically known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the northeast, Afghanistan to the east, Pakistan to the southeast, and the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf to the south.
What's confirmed
What's still developing
- "Diesel prices have skyrocketed since Trump started his war with Iran," Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona declared in a Thursday post on X.
- The price is normally higher around the fall, ahead of the harvest season, when it's needed to power agricultural equipment — 75% of which runs on diesel, according to the Engine Technology Forum.
- U.S. diesel fuel prices hit a record high Thursday afternoon, according to a fuel price monitoring service, surpassing the previous peak set in 2022 as surging crude oil and refining bottlenecks sent the cost of the fuel that underpins a wide swathe of the U.S. economy soaring.
- Diesel now costs an average of $5.82 a gallon, according to the pricing service GasBuddy, breaking the previous record high of $5.81 set under former President Joe Biden in June 2022 when fuel costs skyrocketed amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the post-Covid global economy.
- Vice President JD Vance told reporters at the White House on Thursday that gas prices are high because the Iranian regime is targeting oil tankers moving through the Strait of Hormuz.
- For now, there’s no sign that diesel prices will fall anytime soon, experts said.
- “Labor Day weekend travelers are facing the highest gas prices ever for this time of year,” AAA said in a report on Friday.
- “If you go back three months ago, how much oil and gas was coming out of the strait under Iranian threats. It was virtually nothing. Now, it’s almost back to where it was before the conflict even started,” Vance said.