Tracy Mumford

That's used to heat homes, cook food, and power factories across Asia and Europe.

An official said it could take up to five years to repair.

All the disruptions like that could continue to drive up global energy prices, and high energy prices tend to slow economic growth, increase unemployment, and speed up inflation.

One energy consulting firm is now warning that oil, which was about $73 a barrel before the war and has now crossed $100, could climb to as high as $200 a barrel by the end of the year.

If that happens, one expert told The Times, quote, I couldn't fathom we would not start seeing economies fall into a recession.

Meanwhile, there's been a slew of conflicting signals on how long the war could last and whether any more energy infrastructure could come under fire.

President Trump declared yesterday that the U.S.

and Iran had had what he called productive conversations.

An Iranian parliamentary leader dismissed that as fake news.

The Times has learned that while some messages have been going back and forth, U.S.

officials say the negotiations have not been substantive, despite Trump's claims.

Now, a few more quick updates on the Trump administration, from the Homeland Security shutdown to an extraordinary transfer of taxpayer dollars.

First... It would have worked.

We could have had TSA paid by the end of the week.

But the president said no deal, so my plan... There was almost a bipartisan agreement in the Senate over the DHS shutdown, but President Trump has nixed it.

GOP Senator John Kennedy told Fox News that he and other Republicans were prepared to accept a deal from Democrats that would have funded all of DHS except ICE for now.

But when the president was looped in, he quashed it.

Yesterday, Trump made clear he wants to leverage the funding standoff as a way to push his voter ID bill.

Without a deal on DHS, TSA agents will continue to go unpaid, which has already caused widespread disruption to air travel in the U.S., as some passengers wait in hours-long security lines.

Also in the Senate.