Two days after diesel prices in the United States hit a record high, President Donald Trump on Sunday cast blame — not on the war with Iran, but on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

While attending the Irish Open at his golf resort in Doonbeg, Ireland, Trump told reporters that he had spoken to Zelenskyy about the diesel concerns. “Mr. Zelenskyy has to do one thing. He has to stop knocking out diesel fuel in Russia,” he said.

“Let him go after targets, but not diesel fuel, because he’s causing a shortage of diesel fuel,” said Trump, alleging that the shortage is due to Ukrainian strikes on Russia, not the expanding conflict in Iran. 

This summer, Ukraine has struck more than 20 refinery targets in Russia, something that Putin has conceded has caused economic pain.

“There are plenty of other targets,” Trump continued. “That’s hurting the world. We don’t want him to hit diesel fuel.” 

Zelenskyy has touted the strikes, including one on Sept. 7, as an appropriate military response to attacks by Russia. “Our warriors continue responding justly to Russian strikes on Ukraine,” he wrote in an X post. 

Since the United States and Israel jointly launched a war against Iran on Feb. 28, diesel prices in the U.S. have gone up by about 55%. Last year at this time, prices sat around $3.70. On Sunday, the national average was $6.20. 

Trump insisted that the skyrocketing cost of diesel is not connected to the Iran war. “This isn’t done by the Middle East. This is done by what’s happening with Russia and Ukraine,” he said. 

But Trump has previously acknowledged that rising fuel prices are, in fact, a result of the Iran war’s battle over the Strait of Hormuz and even asked Americans to take a price hit in order to stop Iran from having nuclear power.

Last month, the president said that sacrificing “a tiny little bit more” for gas would prevent a “very evil country” from building a nuclear weapon. 

“So remember that when you have to pay a little bit more, you’re at $4. It’s okay,” he said at the time, standing firm in his decision to take America to war and saying he would “never apologize.”  

On Saturday, he again linked the Iran war with high gas prices, saying that after the midterms, when he predicts the conflict will end, prices will “come tumbling down.”

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