The energy crisis is getting worse, not better — bad news for drivers, truckers, farmers, and anyone heating a home in Europe this winter.

• Iran's attacks on tankers near the Strait of Hormuz hit their highest weekly level since the war began, even as Gulf states push oil out.
• Getting crude through the strait now costs a fortune — Gulf producers pay millions per round trip and bonus pay to foreign sailors willing to risk it, and consumers absorb that at the pump.
• The bigger problem is refineries, not crude: plants across Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, and Bahrain are damaged or offline, and Ukrainian drone strikes have knocked out half of Russia's refining capacity.
• Diesel has jumped about 70% since the war started, squeezing truckers and farmers, while a third of the world's fertilizer normally moves through the same strait — raising the risk of food shortages.
• Trump's answer is an executive order letting tax-exempt red-dye diesel be used on highways, which fuel retailers and truck stop owners call unworkable and barely a band-aid.

Outlook: Refineries don't come back online quickly, so high diesel prices and shortages will likely persist even if the fighting stops — and renewed Saudi strikes on the Houthis point to more damaged oil infrastructure ahead.