Trump’s Iran War Is Absolutely Cooking Gas Prices
In case you haven't heard, fuel prices are high.
Very, very high. So much so that they are, again, impacting consumer buying patterns. Though prices tend to generally rise and fall over time, the overall trend is upward. And thanks to a certain war with Iran, drivers in the USA are feeling the heat at the pump nearly as much as ever.
How much so?
Thanks to a report by the Financial Times, we know that $40,000,000,000 extra worth of fuel costs have been passed on to those who don't have a choice but to pay more for the gas that goes into their vehicle.
Yes, you read that number right—Trump's war with Iran has cost U.S. drivers an additional $40 billion at the pump since bombs started dropping at the end of February. That running total is an additional $30 billion above the $10 billion the conflict had already put on drivers by the end of April. In fact, it's more than that; The Watson School of International and Public Affairs at Brown University says it's more like $41.5 billion.
So, why so much added expense? The primary reason is that as long as Iran is in charge of the Strait of Hormuz— which was closed for a while—the nation has leverage.
That means supply is restricted, and basic economic laws dictate that a smaller supply with demand unchanged means that the cost goes up. At the time of writing, AAA shows a national average of $4.533/gallon for regular fuel. So much for gas at sub-$2/gallon as Trump promised. Antics like this, a pointless war, have done exactly the opposite of what the President said he was going to do.
As always, the people impacted most are the folks at the bottom who suffer as a result of decisions made by people who rarely, if ever, think of people in lesser economic rungs. Those people who are struggling to fill their vehicles' tanks are suffering as their budget feels the burden of a war that nobody asked for, and one that can't end soon enough.
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Based in Connecticut, Ross hosts The Hooniverse Podcast. He has been in the off-road world since he was a kid riding in the back of his dad’s YJ Wrangler. He works in marketing by day and in his free time contributes to Hooniverse, AutoGuide, and ATV.com, and in the past has contributed to UTV Driver, ATV Rider, and Everyday Driver. Ross drives a 2018 Lexus GX460 that is an ongoing build project featured on multiple websites and the podcast.
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