President Donald Trump called the spike in gas prices “a very small price to pay” when he launched strikes on Iran nearly five months ago. On Monday, with the average gas price back above $4 a gallon and the war grinding on with no end in sight, that cost is looking neither small nor temporary — and increasingly like a liability heading into the midterms.
According to AAA, the national average for fuel prices surpassed $4 a gallon for the first time since June after the war with Iran escalated sharply over the weekend. Last month the U.S. reached an agreement to tentatively extend a ceasefire with Iran which led to a drop in energy prices. But that deal quickly unraveled, and now, following a string of tit-for-tat strikes over the past week and a half, energy prices have shot back up.
So far, in July, the International Maritime Organization recorded at least nine attacks on vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, including the deaths of two crew members. Earlier this month, Iran declared that the Strait of Hormuz was closed “until further notice.” The U.S. military, meanwhile, has attempted to establish an alternate route for shipping traffic along Oman’s coast, but threats remain in those waters too.
A commercial ship was set ablaze by “an unknown projectile” on Sunday near the coast of Oman, according to the British military.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright told ABC News on Sunday that the administration seeks to degrade Iran’s ability “to hold world commerce hostage,” suggesting that the U.S. plans to continue to utilize military action to secure the waterway responsible for about 20% of global oil exports.
“We did a pause to try to get an agreement with the Iranian people to allow oil to flow without them attacking it,” Wright said. “They’ve proven unwilling to do that, and we’ve pivoted.”
In a statement, White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said, “As the U.S. military degrades the terrorist Iranian regime’s ability to attack commercial vessels and disrupt the free flow of energy through the Strait of Hormuz, oil and gas prices will plummet back to pre-conflict levels.”
“President Trump remains committed to unleashing American energy dominance, cutting costs, and putting more money back in the pockets of hardworking American families, ” she added.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said that Trump’s signature on the Memorandum of Understanding was worthless and invalid because of repeated violations of the ceasefire deal. A senior Iranian official echoed those sentiments to MS NOW. Trump had already declared the ceasefire “over.”
Amidst rising global energy costs the president on Sunday celebrated potential plans by the United Kingdom’s new Prime Minister Andy Burnham to fast-track new oil and gas drilling in the North Sea — one of the world’s most productive offshore oil sites where supply has been dwindling in recent decades.
The president had criticized the U.K. in a post on Truth Social in April for not drilling for oil in the North Sea, calling it “tragic” and urging them to open it amid rising gas and energy costs worldwide.
Some White House allies and Republican lawmakers have expressed frustration with Trump’s approach to the war and his unpredictable rhetoric. Over the course of the war, the president has had an inconsistent approach to gas prices – both touting falling prices as a barometer of success, while also at times brushing off the impact on Americans.
At the start of the war almost five months ago, the president presented high prices as a trade-off, saying it’s a “very small price to pay” to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
But as the war has dragged on the White House has taken steps to address the prices at the pump, seemingly recognizing the political significance as the midterms approach.
Earlier this month the White House began promoting gas stations branded under a recently-launched chain, known as Freedom Fuel Network, in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, which have been selling fuel at roughly 50 cents lower than their competitors. It’s unclear where those stations will remain at lower prices given new pressures on the market.
Trump took credit when gas prices saw significant relief in June — when the national average was below $4 per gallon for about four weeks.
“The prices of oil are dropping like a rock now,” Trump said at a press conference in the NATO Summit in Turkey on July 8. “They’ll be up a little bit, and this will end very quickly,” the president added, referring to the war with Iran.
Inzamam Rashid contributed to this report.
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