Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Friday that gasoline prices could begin falling within weeks despite a sharp spike tied to the escalating conflict with Iran. Wright said the disruption to global oil markets is likely temporary.
“Look, Iran’s been an escalator of energy prices [for] 47 years, the whole history of their regime,” Wright said in an interview, Newsmax reported. “We got a little bit of an interruption right now to finally put an end to their ability to wreak havoc, to kill Americans, and to terrorize their neighbors.”
His remarks came as oil traders and drivers reacted to rising crude and gasoline prices following joint U.S.-Israeli military operations against Iran.
Iran has also taken steps to disrupt shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. The waterway is one of the most critical oil choke points in the world. The strait connects the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman and normally carries about 20 percent of global petroleum liquids consumption. Any threat to shipping through the passage can quickly impact global energy markets.
AAA reported that the national average price of a gallon of regular gasoline reached $3.32 on Friday. That price was up from $2.98 just one week earlier.
Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, warned that prolonged disruption could worsen the situation. “That means millions of barrels of oil that would normally flow to global markets simply aren’t reaching buyers,” De Haan said.
“Every additional day [of] the disruption continues compounds the problem. Even if the Strait reopened immediately, the market would still face the challenge of catching up on days’ worth of missing shipments — an increasingly difficult task as the backlog grows,” he added.
Analysts have warned that any extended closure or severe restriction in the waterway could push oil prices significantly higher. Such a move could increase inflation risks and place pressure on the White House.
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Gasoline prices had remained below levels seen throughout much of 2024 and early 2025 before the recent spike.
President Donald Trump said Thursday that he is not concerned about the potential for a long-term surge in gas prices. “I don’t have any concern about it,” Trump told Reuters.
“They’ll drop very rapidly when this is over, and if they rise, they rise, but this is far more important than having gasoline prices go up a little bit,” Trump said.
The administration has argued that the ongoing military and naval actions will help stabilize global oil markets.
Wright said he believes prices could begin easing within weeks rather than months. For consumers, the direction of fuel prices will likely depend on developments in the Middle East. Shipping lanes, refinery operations, and oil exports could drive the price outlook day by day.
Oman’s foreign minister said Feb. 27 that negotiations with Iran had produced a potential breakthrough on the country’s nuclear program, even as the Islamic Republic was continuing to secretly advance its nuclear weapons program.
Speaking during an interview on CBS in Washington, the minister said Iranian officials had agreed in principle to eliminate their stockpile of enriched uranium, permit full monitoring by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and convert existing nuclear material into reactor fuel.
According to the minister, the proposal would involve irreversible steps to prevent the material from being used for weapons purposes while allowing international inspectors to verify compliance.
“This is something completely new,” he said. “If you cannot stockpile material that is enriched, then there is no way you can actually create a bomb.”
On the same day that Oman announced a reported breakthrough in nuclear negotiations with Iran, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) circulated a confidential report raising concerns about undeclared nuclear material, Vision Times reported.
The agency said it was unable to verify the exact size, composition, or precise location of the material. Inspectors also reported what they described as a “loss of continuity of knowledge” regarding Iran’s nuclear inventory.
