The cost of fuel once again raised alarm among consumers in the United States, after Gasoline reached its highest level since the beginning of the conflict with Iran. This is very important information for the millions of families in the country, both because of the direct impact that this means for households that consume fuel for a vehicle, and because of the indirect impact that is always reflected in the increase in goods and services.
According to data from the American Automobile Association (AAA), The average price of a gallon of gasoline reached $4.23 dollars this Tuesday. This figure marks a new high since the war in the Middle East began, consolidating an upward trend that has been constant in recent weeks.
At the regional level, Some Midwestern states like Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana could face even bigger increases in fuel prices. This is due to problems at local refineries, including electrical outages and operational setbacks that have raised wholesale costs by 40 to 50 cents per gallon.
Since last February 28, The price of fuel has risen approximately $1.20 per gallonwith a recent increase of almost 7 cents in a single day. This behavior comes after a brief respite in early April, when the price fell slightly following signs of progress in negotiations between the United States and Iran, including a temporary ceasefire announced on April 8.
However, the talks have lost steam, weakening expectations of a quick resolution to the conflict. As a result, Oil prices have resumed their upward trenddirectly putting pressure on the cost of gasoline. At the moment, Brent crude oil reached $115.50 dollars per barrel, while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) stood at $108.43 dollarskey factors considering that oil represents about 51% of the final fuel price.
“The strait [de Ormuz] It’s not reopened — there’s no coherent plan for reopening it — and now negotiations have basically stopped,” GasBuddy oil expert Patrick De Haan explained to CBS News. “So oil has been slowly regaining some of what it lost after the ceasefire was announced.”
From the White House, press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed that the president held meetings with his national security team to discuss an Iranian proposal related to the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. However, he avoided confirming concrete progress in the negotiations.
Rising gasoline prices have become one of the most visible effects of the war for American households. According to estimates by Neale Mahoney, an economics professor at Stanford University, Consumers have spent about $150 extra on gas in the last two monthscompared to what they would have paid if prices had stayed below $3 per gallon.
“You can’t just turn on the supply of oil and gasoline like a switch,” Mahoney said.
The analyst highlighted the complexity of restoring the energy infrastructure affected by the conflict, which is why estimated gas prices would remain above $4 through the summer and then they would begin to decline in the fall, even if the conflict in the Middle East ended.
The projections indicate that The additional expense could reach up to $800 per person by the end of the yeareven surpassing recent economic benefits, such as the tax refunds promoted by the Trump administration’s much-mentioned star law: the One, Big, Splendid Bill. According to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the average refund increased by $333 from the previous year, a figure that could be offset by the cost of fuel.
Furthermore, the impact is not limited to gasoline, since the dieselprimarily for the transportation of goods, has risen to $5.46 per gallonwhich could make basic products and services more expensivefrom food to plane tickets.
“The impact of higher energy costs is felt immediately on petrol, but it also drives up costs more broadly,” Professor Mahoney said. “You will see flight prices go up if you are looking for a summer vacation, and we also see it in food prices.”
The war with Iran is being very costly for the United States and its inhabitants. Furthermore, even if the conflict were to end, fuels have a very particular economic dynamic that experts call “rockets and feathers”, which explains how they rise in price exponentially, but fall very slowly. So the outlook for 2026 is not the most encouraging.
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