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Get you up to speed: Trump blames Democrats and Ukraine for soaring US fuel prices, not Iran war
President Donald Trump attributed rising fuel prices in the United States to Democratic-led states and Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries. The average price for a gallon of petrol has reached $4.36, reflecting a significant increase from previous months.
G7 countries have agreed to release 100 million barrels of diesel and crude from emergency reserves to alleviate pressure on fuel prices. Meanwhile, the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve has reached its lowest level since 1982, contributing to ongoing concerns about domestic supply.
President Donald Trump has attributed rising fuel prices to Democratic-led states and Ukraine’s actions against Russian refineries, while the G7 has agreed to release 100 million barrels from emergency reserves to alleviate pressure on global oil markets. As prices continue to rise, a recent poll indicates that 65 percent of Americans hold Trump accountable for the increases, with significant concerns over the US economy ahead of the midterm elections.
What remains unclear — It is uncertain how much the recent refinery closures in Democratic-led states have contributed to the overall spike in fuel prices compared to other global factors.
Trump attributes rising US fuel prices to Democrats and Ukraine strikes, not Iran war
Economy|Oil and GasTrump blames Democrats and Ukraine for soaring US fuel prices, not Iran war
Trump shifts blame for fuel price hikes to Democratic-led states such as California and Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries.
Published On 5 Oct 20265 Oct 2026
Published On 5 Oct 20265 Oct 2026With the United States midterm elections approaching, President Donald Trump has attempted to shift blame for high fuel prices from the US-Israel war on Iran to Democrats and Ukraine’s attacks on Russian refineries.
“What’s driving up Gasoline is no longer the Strait of Hormuz, because Record Numbers of Barrels are coming out now on an almost daily basis, but the word, ‘Refineries,’ where Russia’s are being blown up by Ukraine, and where ours are being closed up, in Blue States, like California, by the Dumocrats,” Trump said in a Truth Social post on Monday.
While Trump claims domestic refinery closures are driving the spike, daily exports through the Strait of Hormuz have actually plunged 97 percent since the war began, choking global supplies.
Petrol prices are continuing to climb for consumers. The average price for a gallon (3.79 litres) is $4.36, up from $4.14 a month ago and up from $2.98 on February 28, when the US and Israel first struck Iran, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA), which tracks daily petrol prices.
“The ongoing conflicts with Iran and Russia’s war with Ukraine are reinforcing each other, impairing oil product markets, but Middle Eastern flows are far from normal,” Rachel Ziemba, senior adjunct fellow at the Center for a New American Security, told WTX News.
On Friday, G7 countries agreed to release 100 million barrels of diesel and crude from emergency reserves amid pressure from the White House. Meanwhile, the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve hits its lowest level since 1982.
“US tells some [European Union] members to release ‘strategic reserves’ or face a potential US diesel export ban, pushing France and Germany to do so, oil prices, along with gasoline and diesel futures strongly lower as a result,” Patrick DeHaan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, said in a post on X.
Global pressures
Ukraine’s attacks on Russia’s energy infrastructure have also driven up prices, particularly diesel fuel. On Sunday, Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence claimed that it has disabled more than half of Russia’s oil refining capacity.
“The damage to Russia’s refineries – and risk of more US sanctions on those who process Russian oil – are exacerbating the situation, but the underlying issue is still the volatile flows from the Middle East, the greater difficulty getting oil products out and the lower buffers in place,” Ziemba added.
The latest strikes come amid ongoing attacks since the war between Russia and Ukraine began in 2022. In June, Russian refinery throughput hit its lowest level in two decades, according to an analysis by the International Energy Agency (IEA). The analysis also found that diesel production has fallen 30 percent over the past 18 months.
Trump has also blamed price increases on refining cuts in Democratic-led states such as California, where two refineries have shut down over the past year. The closures reduced the state’s refining capacity by 17 percent, creating some supply gaps, according to an analysis by S&P Global.
However, Trump’s effort to shift blame to Democrats comes ahead of consequential midterm elections that could shape the balance of power in Washington. At the same time, most Americans appear to blame Trump for rising prices. A recent AP-NORC poll found that 65 percent of Americans blamed Trump’s policies for higher prices, while 61 percent said the US economy is worse off than when Trump returned to office.
October 12, 2024
6:18 am
‘Cheer up, you caught the bad guy,’ says killer Virginia McCullough as she is arrested for murdering her parents
A woman who murdered her parents “in cold blood” before hiding them in makeshift tombs for four years told officers to “cheer up, you caught the bad guy” as she was arrested in her home.
Virginia McCullough, 36, poisoned her father John McCullough, 70, with prescription medication and fatally stabbed her mother Lois McCullough, 71, shortly afterwards in 2019.
She ran up large debts on credit cards in her parents’ names and after their deaths, she continued to spend their pensions until she was finally caught in 2023.
In body-worn video footage released by police, a handcuffed – and eerily calm – McCullough told officers: “I did know that this would kind of come eventually.
“It’s proper that I serve my punishment.”
She said she had slipped something into her father’s drink then put his body under a bed on the ground floor, and put her mother’s body in an upstairs wardrobe.
McCullough, having been arrested on suspicion of double murder, told an officer: “Cheer up, at least you’ve caught the bad guy.”
She added: “I know I don’t seem 100% evil.”
At the police station, she told officers where a kitchen knife was, which she described as a “murder weapon”, and a hammer which she said “will still have blood on it”.
McCullough, of Pump Hill, Chelmsford, Essex, was sentenced to life imprisonment on Friday with a minimum term of 36 years at Chelmsford Crown Court, after she admitted to their murders between 17 and 20 June 2019 at an earlier hearing at the same court.
Chelmsford Crown Court heard how she hid their bodies in makeshift tombs at the family home in Great Baddow in Essex, then told persistent lies to cover her tracks.
The court heard she cancelled family arrangements and frequently told doctors and relatives her parents were unwell, on holiday or away on lengthy trips.
But concerns over Mr and Mrs McCullough’s welfare were raised in September 2023 by a GP at their registered practice, and Essex County Council’s safeguarding team referred these to police.
The GP had not seen the couple for some time and said Mr McCullough had failed to collect medication and attend scheduled appointments. It was found McCullough had frequently cancelled appointments, using a range of excuses to explain her father’s absence.
Police said a missing persons investigation was initially launched and McCullough lied to officers, claiming her parents were travelling and would be returning in October.
It became a murder investigation, and when officers forced entry to the house in Pump Hill on September 15 2023, McCullough confessed that her parents’ bodies were in the house and that she had killed them.
Nicola Rice, a specialist prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “McCullough callously and viciously killed both of her parents before concealing their bodies in makeshift tombs within their home address.
“She spent the next four years manipulating and lying to family members, medical staff, financial institutions, and the police, spending her parents’ money and accruing large debts in their name.”
She added: “This was a truly disturbing case, which has left behind it a trail of devastation, and I can only hope that the sentence passed today will help those who loved and cared for Lois and John begin to heal.”
To downplay the genocide, the israelis claim there’s only 20,000 people left in north Gaza, says
@MahaGaza
: the real number exceeds 400,000
Man of the right wing Nigel Farage taking more second jobs and freebie helicopter rides
Gosh he’ll soon be a true blue Tory at this rate
Or far far worse
The cost-of-living crisis is far from over, yet the government’s 50% increase to the bus fare cap is a political choice, adding hundreds to annual costs.
To address hardship & the climate crisis, the government must keep the £2 cap & make public transport accessible for all.
G20 waters down support for Ukraine amid pressure for peace talks
The Tech Titan Who Led His Company From a 68-Square-Foot Jail Cell
November 23, 2024
8:25 am
Defense alliance NATO chief Mark Rutte has met US President-elect Donald Trump to discuss global security issues, according to a NATO spokesperson.
The meeting took place in Palm Beach, Florida.
During his first term as US president, 2017-2020, Trump pushed for European NATO countries to spend more on defense and described the alliance’s cost-sharing as unfair to the US.
Rutte took over as NATO chief from Norwegian Jens Stoltenberg in November.
Before taking office in January, Trump has nominated Pete Hegseth for the post of defense secretary, which has raised eyebrows among many allies.
Hegseth, 44, has served as an infantry captain in Iraq and Afghanistan, but has no senior military or government officer experience.
November 23, 2024
8:25 am
November 23, 2024
8:17 am
Multiple missiles were fired in an airstrike towards a densely populated part of Lebanon’s capital early on Saturday.
The huge airstrike targeted Beirut’s Basta neighbourhood, and no prior warnings were given by the Israeli military. The largely residential area was struck last month.
At least one violent explosion was heard across the city, Reuters witnesses said, and plumes of smoke could be seen. Scenes of massive destruction at the site were shared online, including a massive crater in the ground.
“Beirut, the capital, woke up to a horrific massacre, as the Israeli enemy’s air force completely destroyed an eight-story residential building with five missiles on Al-Mamoun Street in Basta,” the state-run National News Agency reported.
The health ministry put the initial death toll at four, with 23 wounded. The number is expected to climb in the coming hours as search and rescue efforts continue.
It came after a long day of Israeli airstrikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs, which have been non-stop since last week.
The cross-border fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group escalated into a full-blown war in mid-September.
Israel has bombed southern Lebanon, Beirut’s southern suburbs and the eastern Beqaa region, and has sent ground troops across the border. Hezbollah has continued to fire rockets deeper into Israel.
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