G7 agrees to release 100 mln barrels of oil after Trump plea for diesel aid

G7 Agrees to Release 100 Million Barrels of Oil After Trump Plea

The Group of Seven nations agreed Friday to release 100 million barrels of oil from strategic stockpiles, following a desperate plea from the White House.

The G7 held an emergency meeting Friday morning to discuss global energy costs. The discussion came after a pressing call between Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron, during which the U.S. leader asked for assistance amid the current oil crisis and floated the idea of banning U.S. diesel exports, according to CBS Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent Margaret Brennan.

The global coalition—comprising Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the U.K., and the U.S.—expects the barrels to hit the market over the next four months.

In a statement, the group said it had "agreed on decisive, coordinated measures to stabilize immediate energy supplies, shield households and businesses from price shocks, and strengthen the long-term resilience of global energy systems."

Trump announced after the meeting that "Europe has just agreed to release a massive amount of their heavily stocked Diesel Oil. The process will begin immediately."

However, two diplomats who spoke with Politico suggested the G7 declaration was little more than a reiteration of an agreement initially drawn up in March, when the International Energy Agency led an effort to release some 400 million barrels of oil. That sale was stalled due to the low availability of cheaper U.S. crude oil, though an EU diplomat told Politico the oil was finally released.

Rising Fuel Costs

The price of oil and gas has risen exponentially since the start of the Iran war and the subsequent closure of the Strait of Hormuz:

• Gasoline: In early February, weeks before the Trump administration initiated the conflict, gas cost approximately $2.99 per gallon. Today, a gallon costs $4.39 on average, according to the AAA fuel price tracker.
• Diesel: This time last year, diesel cost an average of $3.70 per gallon. Today, it costs $6.37 per gallon.

This story has been updated.

Trump Mocks Biden's Health, Despite Own Fitness Concerns

The bar for America's highest elected office keeps sinking, observers say.

The nation's 80-year-old president gave himself a pat on the back Thursday after climbing onto the rally stage at the Peterbilt Motors manufacturing facility in Denton, Texas. The celebration came amid a dig at the health of his predecessor, former President Joe Biden.

"Don't forget, when Biden left the stage he spoke very shortly, like two minutes, one minute, as quickly as possible," Trump said. "Could never find the stairs."

"I don't have that problem. You know, these things—you know how many stairs they have?" Trump continued. "Look, I can go ramp, and I can go stair, I can go another stair, another stair in the back, I have a stair here—he could never find a stair."

Trump is the second-oldest man to ever serve as America's commander in chief. The octogenarian has:

• Spent hours at Walter Reed Medical Center on multiple occasions since returning to office
• Fallen asleep during more than a dozen critical meetings
• Appeared lost and disoriented around foreign heads of state
• Frequently slurred his speech
• Seemed to almost chronically suffer from discolored and bruised skin

His behavior has also grown increasingly erratic, as he has thrown cheap insults at members of the press, challenged long-standing U.S. alliances, and taken jabs at the pope.

Trump has nonetheless insisted he is perfectly fit for the job. Since 2024, the self-styled "stable genius" has "aced" several cognitive exams, though his recollections of the tests' contents have called into question whether he actually took them.

A national Strength in Numbers/Verasight poll conducted in July found that public perceptions of Trump's mental health were on par with Biden's, with 46 percent of respondents rating Trump's mental sharpness as "poor."

Vance Tells Americans to Stop 'Griping' About Gas Prices, War

Vice President JD Vance thinks Americans are too worried about the "little things" ahead of midterms—like gas prices, debt, Immigration and Customs Enforcement killings, and war.

"This is not the time to sort of gripe about all the little things.… I think every single person who voted for us in 2024 could find something where they wish maybe congressional Republicans had gone further," Vance told Fox News on Thursday. "The challenge here is between Democrats who want to destroy the country, who want to permanently disempower you … and Republicans who fundamentally are trying to solve the problems that Democrats under Joe Biden created."

Vance was promptly lambasted online for the out-of-touch comment, a trend for Republicans as they struggle to sell their platform to dissatisfied Americans as midterms approach.

"So worrying about grocery prices, gas increases and no jobs is 'griping'??" one liberal account posited.

"By every metric Trump, Vance and the GOP took what the Biden administration left them and made it worse for the American people," said another. "If you want to give them two more years, your momma done dropped you on your head. Twice."

Republicans appear to be grasping at straws ahead of what is widely predicted to be a brutal midterm rebuke. Just two weeks ago, Vance was begging Americans for "another chance."

Trump Claims Iran War Was About Drugs—Contradicting Own Rationale

Donald Trump is attempting to retcon his rationale for attacking Iran.

Speaking at a rally in Durant, Oklahoma, Thursday evening, the president suddenly claimed that part of his impetus for launching an all-out assault on the country seven months ago was because Iran was "doing drugs" at "drug factories."

The add-on came as Trump boasted about Operation Midnight Hammer, the special mission in which he directed the U.S. military to destroy nuclear facilities in Fordo, Natanz, and Isfahan in June 2025.

"They went from Missouri and then at one o'clock in the morning, with no moon, dark as can be, these unbelievable machines led by the most incredible pilots in the world, they unloaded every single bomb, went right down air chutes into this, uh, drug factories, really," Trump told the crowd. "That's what they were doing. They were nuclear and drugs. They were doing drugs, but they were doing the nuclear. But these drug factories/nuclear factories were hit so hard."

It was the first time Trump ever suggested the war in Iran was about drugs. Up until the Oklahoma rally, Trump had almost singularly blamed the conflict on Iran's quest to develop nuclear technologies.

Before Operation Midnight Hammer, Tehran had argued it was seeking uranium for peaceful purposes, such as expanding its nuclear energy program. The nation underwent years of nuclear site inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency, and just weeks prior to the June attack was allowing IAEA inspectors to remain in the country for continuous supervision, according to the United Nations entity.

A series of historic, nationwide protests began in Iran in December 2025, sparked by the collapse of the local currency. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's ensuing crackdown killed thousands of people.

When Trump first announced the U.S.-Iran war in February, he explicitly called on the Iranian people to rise up against their government and obtain their independence.

"When we are finished, take over your government," Trump said at the time. "It will be yours to take."

But even after Khamenei was assassinated, Trump's charge did not pan out. Instead, Americans have found themselves in yet another unpopular forever war in the Middle East. The ensuing closure of the Strait of Hormuz has also roiled wallets at home, as the American economy contends with rising oil and gas prices.

Trump Trashes Ken Paxton at Texas Rally—Then Tells Crowd to Vote for Him

President Donald Trump went all the way to Texas to trash Ken Paxton in front of his own constituents.

The president offered these comments during his rally at the Peterbilt Motors factory in Denton on Thursday night.

"He can be a pain in the ass sometimes, I'll be honest. Is he here, by the way? Oh, there he is," Trump said of the embattled attorney general and Senate candidate. "I didn't even know if he was here! I don't care."

During a rally in Durant, Oklahoma, later that night, Trump even played recently leaked audio of Paxton talking down on the president's poorly received midterm GOP convention.

"It was leaked audio that came out yesterday from The New York Times saying Ken Paxton isn't sure that the numbers after that midterm convention helped him and maybe hurt him. Are they still on board?" a reporter can be heard asking in the clip Trump played. A Trump supporter replied that Paxton was wrong.

Trump still encouraged people to vote for Paxton, "whether you love him or you don't love him."

The president pretending not to know that a Republican senatorial candidate is at his own rally is deeply unserious—especially when that candidate is locked in a contested race that has the chance to break the historic vice grip that the party has had in the state. Even if Paxton really is a pain in the ass, Trump openly admitting that isn't necessarily a vote of confidence—something Paxton sorely needs, as his candidacy has been shrouded in controversy and a lack of enthusiasm.

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