Diesel and gas prices are spiking and hitting record levels. Experts say it’s going to get worse

The price of diesel hit another record high Thursday morning and is expected to climb higher — along with the surging cost of gasoline — as fallout from President Donald Trump’s ongoing Iran war continues to restrict global oil supplies.

Diesel now costs an average of $6.40 a gallon nationally, up 9 cents from Wednesday and a staggering 73 percent over the past year, according to AAA.

The average national price of regular unleaded gas jumped 7 cents overnight to $4.44 a gallon, and has increased by 39 percent since a year ago as it closes in on the record $5.02 set in June 2022.

Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis for the GasBuddy price-tracking website, said on social media Thursday morning that New Jersey and Maine had just broken their diesel-cost records, “making it now 44 states where diesel prices are at all-time highs.”

Only Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont have seen higher prices in the past — and De Haan said Tuesday that each was no more than 25 cents per gallon away from surpassing those marks.

Gulf Oil's chief energy adviser, Tom Kloza, also predicted “staggering increases at the pump for both gasoline & diesel” in a social media post Tuesday.

“Fuel margins have yet to catch up with previous wholesale hikes. Watch for huge increases in Great Lakes and Rocky Mountain states in particular,” he wrote.

SoFi chief market strategist Liz Thomas also said Tuesday that she’d previously predicted that “diesel prices could rise to $6.65/gal by election day based on trends five days ago.”

“Well, trends have worsened,” she added in a post on X.

The midterm elections are on November 3.

Diesel is critical to the American economy because it powers the trucks, trains and boats that deliver most consumer goods, including groceries and other household staples like toilet paper, personal care items and cleaning products.

During an appearance in North Carolina on Wednesday, Trump acknowledged that fuel prices were “a little higher” but said they were worth it to wage his ongoing war against Iran, now in its seventh month.

“It's a very inexpensive price to pay for what we've done,” he said during a campaign rally for Republican Senate nominee Michael Whatley.

The president said the war would also justify price hikes that were “a lot more,” before repeating his prediction that they’ll “come tumbling down...like a rocket ship in reverse.”

Former U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a one-time Trump loyalist, lashed out at the president in a social media video that showed her standing in front of a fuel pump in California, where diesel was selling for $8.50 a gallon.

“This is Trump's fault. This should not be this high. It needs to end. Ridiculous,” the Georgia Republican said.

Global fuel supplies have been pinched by Iran’s closure of the Persian Gulf’s crucial Straight of Hormuz, through which about 20 percent of the world’s oil traveled before Trump launched his war on February 28 without congressional approval.

The limited traffic there dropped this week as fighting intensified between Saudi Arabia and Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, and only a single ship exited the strait Wednesday, according to Reuters, which identified the vessel as an oil tanker that used a so-called dark route.

Recent drone attacks against a crucial East-West oil pipeline in Saudi Arabia led to its temporary shutdown Friday, threatening 4 percent of the world’s oil supply. The Saudis have blamed the attacks on Iran-backed militias in Iraq.

Fuel-related costs can account for up to 30 percent of the total cost of some food items, and a sustained increase of 10 to 15 percent in fuel prices can push up retail food prices by 2 to 4 percent, according to the Chicago-based Independent Grocers Alliance.

As of last month, the cost of food eaten at home was up 2.2 percent from a year earlier, while the cost of food eaten away from home was up 3.4 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Some of the steepest increases were for poultry other than chicken, instant coffee and frozen fish and seafood, which were up 11.5, 11 and 8.2 percent, respectively.