In a Truth Social post on Monday, Trump wrote: "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."
However, daily exports through the Strait of Hormuz have fallen by 97 percent since the war began, according to tracking data, choking global supplies. Experts say the conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine are reinforcing each other.
"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," said Rachel Ziemba, senior adjunct fellow at the Center for a New American Security.
On Friday, G7 countries agreed to release 100 million barrels of diesel and crude from emergency reserves amid pressure from the White House. The US Strategic Petroleum Reserve is now at its lowest level since 1982.
Patrick DeHaan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, noted on X that the US told some European Union members to release strategic reserves or face a potential US diesel export ban, pushing France and Germany to do so, and that oil prices along with gasoline and diesel futures fell sharply as a result.
Ukraine's attacks on Russia's energy infrastructure have also driven up prices, particularly diesel. On Sunday, Ukraine's Ministry of Defence claimed it has disabled more than half of Russia's oil refining capacity.