Gas Prices Surge in U.S. as Iran War Chokes Global Oil Supply. What You Need To Know

Gas prices are surging across the United States as the fallout from the U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran continues to choke global oil supplies. The national average for a gallon of regular gasoline jumped by 14% in a week to $3.41 on Saturday, according to data from the AAA motor club. The price was under $3 a week ago, but the conflict has severely disrupted oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz, sending crude oil above $90 a barrel. Natural gas prices in Europe have risen even more sharply. Read more: As Oil Tankers Come Under Attack, Experts Fear for Global Trade Through Strait of Hormuz “The last time the national average made a similar weekly jump was back in March of 2022 during the start of the Russia/Ukraine conflict,” the AAA said.  Gas prices may soon rise even higher. The last time crude oil was that high, the average price of a gallon of gas in the U.S. was $3.80, according to AAA. The conflict has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway off the coast of Iran through which about 20% of the world’s crude oil and natural gas typically passes. Iran threatened to attack any vessel from traveling through in the first days of the war, but a Revolutionary Guard spokesman said on Saturday that it would remain open to all traffic except U.S. and Israeli ships. “We did not close the Strait of Hormuz and will not, but we will target ships belonging to the U.S. regime and the Zionist entity transiting the Strait of Hormuz,” a spokesman said, according to the Wall Street Journal. Nevertheless, the number of tankers passing through the strait has dropped to zero since Wednesday, Reuters reported. Retaliatory Iranian missile attacks on oil and gas infrastructure in Gulf countries that host U.S. military bases, such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, have also impacted the production and prices. President Donald Trump made affordability a central plank of his 2024 campaign for the White House, and in his State of the Union address late last month, boasted about his Administration’s ability to keep them down.  “Gasoline, which reached a peak of over $6 a gallon in some states under my predecessor and was, quite honestly, a disaster, is now below $2.30 a gallon in most states, and in some places $1.99 a gallon,” the president claimed. “And when I visited the great state of Iowa just a few weeks ago, I even saw $1.85 a gallon for gasoline, the lowest in four years, and falling fast.” But in an interview with Reuters this week, he dismissed concerns about rising prices.   “I don’t have any concern about it,” he said. “They’ll drop very rapidly when this is over, and if they rise, they rise, but this is far more important than having gasoline prices go up a little bit.” The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from TIME.