Gasoline prices in the United States jumped again on Friday, the latest in a series of increases that has pushed up the price of a gallon by 34 cents, or about 11 percent, since the start of the war led by the United States and Israel against Iran.
The average price of unleaded gas hit $3.32 per gallon on Friday, the highest since September 2024, according to the AAA motor club. A surge in oil prices suggests that prices at the pump may continue to rise. The U.S. crude benchmark settled on Friday at $90.90, up 12.2 percent for the day and 35.6 percent for the week.
That’s the highest price for a barrel of oil since September 2023. Back then, gasoline averaged about $3.80 a gallon, well above the current average price.
The rise in costs could become a political problem for President Trump, who has frequently boasted about how gasoline prices have fallen during his second term, and exaggerated the extent of the decline. After the recent gains, prices are higher than when this term began.
Energy prices have jumped as oil and gas shipments out of the Persian Gulf were choked off by the fighting, as well as Iranian threats to oil tankers looking to traverse the narrow waterway that serves as the gulf’s exit.
In an interview on Thursday with Reuters, Mr. Trump suggested that the military operation in Iran was his priority and that he was willing to tolerate a rise in prices. “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,” he said.
By Friday, domestic crude oil futures had gained more than 30 percent since the conflict began last Saturday, an increase that oil refiners have passed on to consumers at the pump, or to businesses in the form of increased diesel costs. Rising energy prices could also affect everything from the cost of an airline ticket to home heating.
The price of diesel has risen even faster than regular gasoline. A gallon of diesel in the United States cost, on average, $4.33 on Friday, the data from AAA showed. That’s the highest since November 2023. This could directly affect the cost of shipping goods, pressuring businesses to raise prices or let higher transport costs eat into their profits.
As the war drags on, industries like food, chemicals and electronics could also be affected, said Vidya Mani, a visiting professor at Cornell University whose research focuses on supply chains.
“You would think in North America, or anywhere, they’re insulated, but we are dependent on goods that come from these places,” she said. “You’re going to see spikes come up — each one will feed into another. That is something neither are we looking at nor prepared for.”
On Thursday, the chief executive of United Airlines warned that higher fuel prices could have “meaningful” impacts on the company’s financial results this quarter, and that airfare costs could quickly be affected. After Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, rising oil prices caused jet fuel prices to spike, a chain effect that left travelers paying a lot more for plane tickets.
The increases at the pump — one of the most visible economic barometers for Americans — came as the country prepares for midterm elections. Costs are front of mind for many voters, and Mr. Trump has often promised to get gasoline prices lower, or exaggerated how far they’ve fallen.
In the run-up to the 2024 election, Mr. Trump said during a speech to the Economic Club of New York, “We’re going down and getting gasoline below $2 a gallon, bring down the price of everything from electricity rates to groceries.”
In August, his press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, claimed credit for the administration as energy costs declined. “This administration continues to be wholeheartedly committed to putting more money back into the American people’s pockets,” she said.
And in November, Mr. Trump went as far as to claim that the cost per gallon was at a level far below the actual price. “Gasoline is way down,” he said. “I think you’ll be seeing $2 gasoline, but we’re now at $2.50, $2.45, some are lower than that.”
(Gasoline hasn’t been that cheap since 2021, according to data from AAA.)
Energy experts generally say presidents have little control over the price of oil. Gas prices tend to take days or weeks to react to moves in oil prices, which are driven by global supply and demand dynamics. The speed of the rise this week had to do with how pivotal the region is to the global energy supply.
“Even if the oil is not coming from Iran, the inability of oil tankers to get insurance to go through that region can stop the flow of oil, or slow down the flow of oil,” said Josh Rhodes, a research scientist at the Webber Energy Group at the University of Texas at Austin. “It’s really just about Iran having an outsized impact on how much oil can flow.”
Emmett Lindner is a business reporter for The Times.
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