Energy Secretary Chris Wright warned on Sunday that even a swift end to the Iran war could likely mean months more of hardship for Americans at the gas pump.
Gas prices could remain elevated for the remainder of 2026, Wright admitted on CNN’s State of the Union.
“That might not happen until next year,” Wright said, when asked by Jake Tapper when the average price of gas would drop back below $3 per gallon. “I don’t know. That could happen later this year.”
“But prices have likely peaked and they will start going down,” he continued. “Certainly, with a resolution of this conflict, you will see prices go down. Prices across the board on energy prices will go down.”
Wright went on to say that he expected the president to strike a deal to end the war in Iran soon, but wouldn’t provide an exact timeframe.
The U.S. and Iran are approaching a Tuesday deadline when a two-week ceasefire will end. Brokered earlier this month, that ceasefire has maintained a fragile existence as negotiators met for an initial round of talks in Islamabad, Pakistan, last weekend, which failed to result in a peace agreement. U.S. and Iranian negotiators are bound for Pakistand for a second round of talks Monday.
Vice President JD Vance is supposedly leading the second round of talks, as he did the first, though some confusion spread throughout the administration on Sunday after Trump himself said that a “security” situation prohibited Vance’s attendance. Separately, the president announced that U.S. Marines had seized and boarded an Iranian-flagged vessel after firing upon it and disabling it for attempting to run the blockade.
Control of the Strait of Hormuz remains a major factor for both sides as peace talks resume in Islamabad. Iran’s ability to effectively close the strait by deploying mines and small vessels has choked a major transit point for global oil traffic, causing a major spike in U.S. gas prices that have now passed a $4 per gallon average nationwide. A NBC poll published on Sunday found that a wide majority of Americans say gas prices are eating into their financial livelihoods as they grow more pessimistic about Trump’s handling of the economy. On Sunday, the national gas price average was $4.048, according to AAA.
Gas prices remain elevated but have dropped slightly over the past week. The average price for a gallon of low-grade gas in January 2025 when Trump took office was $3.08 a gallon, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
Trump officials, including White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, have insisted that the president’s decision to launch a war with Iran will only cause a temporary spike in prices, and the war’s more ardent defenders have argued that Americans are willing to make an economic sacrifice to see Iran’s government toppled by the U.S. and Israeli militaries. The White House has also pointed out that gas prices reached a high of $4 per gallon as recently as 2022, during the Biden administration, as a result of a post-Covid demand surge.
However, some Republicans are now worried that persistently high gas prices could be an anchor around the necks ahead of the midterm elections. The GOP is trying to hold on to majorities in both chambers of Congress, as polls show Democrats with the edge on a generic ballot. Gas prices and affordability remain issues of high concern for voters, who consistently rank the economy as the most important issue when they go to the polls.
Trump himself claimed that gas prices were “not very high” this past week, as they just began to back away from their highest point in his administration and since the worst of the Covid recovery era.
Some experts, including Wrigh,t continue to warn that the current shock to global supply will not be alleviated any time soon, and could in fact worsen significantly if the closure of the Strait of Hormuz is not addressed soon.
A report earlier in April indicated that White House officials were preparing for a range of scenarios – including a jump in the price of oil past $150 a barrel. Right now, both Brent and West Texas Crude oil is trading below $100.
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