U.S. Gas Prices Reach New High Since Start of Iran War, with No End in Sight

The price of gasoline in the U.S. nudged incrementally up on Tuesday to brand new heights since the beginning of the Iran War, unmatched since the spike seen in the opening salvos of the still ongoing Russia-Ukraine war in April of 2022. As oil prices likewise creep upward (WTI Crude above $100, Brent Crude above $110), giving back any brief fall they had achieved during the U.S. and Iranian “ceasefire” that is technically also still ongoing, both retail consumers and corporate giants are being forced to face the prospect of stalled peace talks between the U.S. and Iran simply not yielding anything of value.

The average cost of a gallon of regular gasoline hit $4.18 on Tuesday according to AAA, the first time this level has been breached since the outbreak of U.S. fighting in Iran. That’s certainly not great, but the rise in diesel prices has been even more crippling, now standing at an average of $5.46. That’s up roughly 45% since the beginning of Donald Trump’s entirely elective war, a cost that relays multiplied effects throughout the supply chain as diesel vehicles are widely used for the cross-country shipping of goods in the United States. That means more price increases are no doubt coming to everyday necessities, which is perhaps why Trump has been running an incredible net negative 40% approval rating on inflation/cost of living. There’s little doubt that consumer sentiment and anxiety over the inescapable visibility of gas prices is at least partially to blame for Trump’s overall approval falling to levels it hasn’t seen since the absolute nadir of Jan. 6, 2021.

trump gets a $400 million ballroom, a $400 million jet, he’s suing the IRS for $10 billion and he’s golfing every weekend.

You get unaffordable healthcare, high grocery prices, high gas prices, high electricity bills and one piece of chicken.

— Covie (@covie93.bsky.social) Apr 27, 2026 at 9:35 PM

Actual talks between the U.S. and Iran have remained deadlocked as both sides engage in a rather odd denial of reality, neither wanting to give in but also seemingly wanting to avoid the resumption of outright shooting and bombing. Through it all, the American stock market sails on and keeps posting gains as it merrily ignores the economic underpinnings of the conflict and commits itself ever more fully to artificial intelligence.

If anything, Iran appears to have gained the negotiating upper hand in the most recent rounds in the way that it has seemingly managed to extricate bargaining over its nuclear program from talks to specifically “end the war.” Instead, Iran has leveraged the global increase in oil and gas prices to make the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz the central tenet of a peace deal–a waterway that was already completely open before the war began. They’re essentially hoping that the U.S., as personified by Trump, will be so spooked by bad polling, high prices and the constant flood of negative media coverage that the country will agree to a peace deal that more or less restores the pre-war status quo, leaving further negotiations about its nuclear program for some future date. Trump can understandably see that this would be an abject defeat for the United States, which has already poured billions upon billions of dollars (and lost at least 13 military lives) into the war.

“The United States will not negotiate through the press—we have been clear about our red lines and the president will only make a deal that’s good for the American people and the world,” said a statement from Olivia Wales, White House spokesperson.

Speaking of “not negotiating through the press,” Trump posted on Truth Social on Tuesday with no supporting evidence that “Iran has just informed us they are in a ‘State of Collapse,'” and that they desperately wish to make a deal amid implications of internal power struggles and division. How certain is he that he’s talking about Iran, and not about his own administration here?

Trump: “Iran has just informed us they are in a ‘State of Collapse.’ They want us to ‘Open the Hormuz Strait,’ as soon as possible, as they try to figure out their leadership situation (Which I believe they will be able to do!). Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP”

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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) Apr 28, 2026 at 9:34 AM

Congress, naturally, does not intend to be of any help in bringing the conflict to a close by asserting any of the powers that the Constitution explicitly endows in the legislative branch. Instead, we get the likes of Sen. Susan Collins (ME), the leader of the Senate Appropriations Committee, saying that she fully expects Trump to suddenly ask Congress for approval to continue the war after the passing of the 60-day deadline for undeclared wars laid out in the War Powers Act, which arrives at the end of this week. As Collins put it, Trump “has to obtain congressional approval or Congress can block it. Those are the two choices, but there has to be action by Congress.”

Or does there? Trump can get around the deadline by simply asking for it to be extended for another 30 days, something that Collins knows full well. As is pretty much always the case, we are given fake, token resistance by purple state Republican senators and members of the House, all of whom are nowhere to be found when Democratic members of Congress attempt to pass legislation to directly limit the chief executive’s power. Look no further than North Carolina’s Sen. Thom Tillis, who likewise said this week that Congress needed to exert its power over declarations of war … but that he wouldn’t vote for any Democrat-led war powers resolutions that would require congressional authorization for the conflict, because despite supporting that legislation, he refuses to vote for it unless it’s been submitted by his own party, rather than that of the enemy. “Not the Democrat one,” Tillis said, referring to the bill brought by Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine (VA) and others—Tillis called any Democratic-backed war powers resolution “messaging exercises.” He instead said, “If we’re really going to get it done, it’s going to have to be done by Republicans.” Which is code for “we’re not going to get it done.”

A frustrated Kaine, meanwhile, said what pretty much everyone is presumably thinking, on the prospect of giving Trump 90 rather than 60 days to wage an undeclared war in Iran: “And then it’ll be 120 days, and then it’ll be forever. Why don’t we just let Donald Trump wage war against anyone in the world for as long as he wants? That’s what many of them would do.”

Regardless of any argument one wants to make, you can’t get around the fact that a year ago on this date, the average price of a gallon of regular gasoline in the U.S. was $3.15. Now it’s $4.18, with the capacity to still go plenty higher. And with Trump’s popularity already at lows equal to Jan. 6, 2021, who’s telling how ugly this could eventually get? The protests should be epic, assuming anyone can afford the transportation to get to them.