The Trump administration’s war with Iran has forced oil and gas tankers and cargo ships to a standstill in the Strait of Hormuz, a critical passage in between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman that’s one of the world’s most important oil chokepoints.
The disruption has cut much of the world off from a viral supply of oil and gas, as Reuters reports, which has sent the price of crude oil soaring since US-Israeli strikes began on Saturday.
The price of a barrel of crude oil shot up by more than $10, reaching almost $80, triggering ripple effects at gas pumps in many markets — including the US, where voters are likely to blame the expense on Trump. Average prices for a gallon of gasoline jumped by 11 cents overnight on Tuesday after tankers were stranded by the ongoing war, which has since spread to much of the Middle East.
Meanwhile, alarm bells are going off in the White House, with chief of staff Susie Wiles telling president Donald Trump’s advisors to come up with ideas on how to keep gas prices from spiking, as Politico reports.
The timing couldn’t be worse, given ongoing discussions over rising inflation and a burgeoning affordability crisis in the US.
One energy industry executive told the publication that the White House is “looking under every rock for ideas on improving energy prices, especially gasoline prices.”
It’s a massive self-inflicted political crisis that has White House officials in full damage control mode.
“Folks are scrambling for announcements and messaging to counter the narrative” of rising gas prices, Politico‘s source said.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has since shot back, telling the outlet in a statement that “nobody is panicking” and accusing it of writing “sensationalist, unverified gossip for clicks.”
The reality, however, is that gas prices were inevitably going to go up given the enormous geopolitical instability in the Middle East. Americans are already feeling the hurt, leading to disillusionment.
“He promised to bring prices down, but he never did,” New Jersey bartender Kelly Sharp told USA Today while standing outside a Wawa gas station. “They’re going up.”
“I’m mad at him and a lot of the things he’s doing… It’s a shame, those young kids being killed,” she added, likely referring to a US-Israeli bombing campaign bombing an Iranian school and killing up to 168 people.
Gas prices are expected to continue to shoot up.
“We are knee-deep into the gas price increases,” Patrick DeHaan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, told the Associated Press on Tuesday, but stopped short of predicting that a gallon would hit $4.
“Many Americans seem very panicked that prices could hit multiple dollars higher than that, which at this point, I wouldn’t say anything’s impossible, but certainly it’s quite improbable based on the current developments,” he added.
Meanwhile, Trump has acknowledged the issue.
“We have a little high oil prices for a little while, but as soon as this ends, those prices are going to drop, I believe, lower than even before,” he said on Tuesday.
He has even claimed that the US military could escort oil tankers, an aggressive response to escalating energy prices.
But given the sheer scale of the powder keg he has lit in the Middle East, it remains to be seen where Trump’s prophecy will land.
More on the war: After Banning Anthropic From Military Use, Pentagon Still Relying Heavily on It in Iran War
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