The price shock showed up fast at the pump, with the Associated Press reporting that the average price for a gallon of gasoline in the United States jumped 11 cents overnight amid the escalation of the Iran war and disruptions to oil and gas shipping through the Persian Gulf.
The AP said gasoline and diesel costs climbed while drivers overseas also responded to the uncertainty. In Europe, drivers queued at stations as diesel prices moved sharply higher, with energy analysts linking the increase to constrained fuel supply rather than to any single local factor.
Susan Bell, senior vice president of commodity markets at Rystad Energy, told the AP that diesel prices spiked 27% in Europe since Friday and that the move equaled about 62 cents per gallon. She said the rise reflected how constrained diesel supply was in the region.
In the United States, the AP reported that a gallon of regular gasoline was selling for $3.11 on average, citing AAA. The AP said some drivers were surprised by the figure, noting that gasoline prices had already been climbing before the U.S. launched strikes on Iran and before refiners switched to summer blends. AAA’s Aixa Diaz said those summer blends tend to be more expensive because they include additives to help keep gasoline from evaporating in heat and because demand rises during the summer months; she also tied additional pressure to a sharp increase in crude prices in recent days.
The AP included accounts from drivers who said the increases were hitting household budgets immediately. In Jackson, Mississippi, Anne Dulske said she paid $15 more than usual to fill up on Tuesday and warned that the cost increase would affect daily life. “It’s going to affect everything in our lives,” she said. “It’s very scary, and it does hit closer to home than people think.”
Industry tracking and market analysis suggested additional increases were possible, though not certain to reach extreme levels. Patrick DeHaan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, said the gasoline price could rise further, but he also doubted the United States would see regular gasoline hit $4 a gallon. “Many Americans seem very panicked that prices could hit multiple dollars higher than that, which at this point, I wouldn’t say anything’s impossible, but certainly it’s quite improbable based on the current developments,” DeHaan said.
The AP said the fuel impact can spread even where a country produces substantial oil, because oil trades globally. It described how the United States is a net exporter of oil but that higher prices still filter through to consumers, and how refineries on U.S. coasts are often geared to process certain kinds of crude, requiring imports of heavier, sour crude and other inputs.
In Europe, the reporting described long lines and drivers who said they were rushing to fill tanks while anticipating supply disruption. In a suburb of Paris, Laurence Rihouay said he was almost out of fuel and that “there’s never usually this many” people at the pumps, while other drivers said the situation felt like broad panic over the regional shipping bottleneck.
The AP said oil prices rose to levels not seen in more than a year as Iran launched retaliatory attacks, including a drone strike on the U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia. It also said Iran struck energy facilities in Qatar and Saudi Arabia and disrupted tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow chokepoint through which a fifth of all oil traded passes, sending global oil and natural gas prices higher. In remarks in the Oval Office Tuesday, President Donald Trump said, “We have a little high oil prices for a little while, but as soon as this ends, those prices are going to drop, I believe, lower than even before,” and later said on social media that, if necessary, the U.S. Navy would escort oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz.
The AP reported market benchmarks moving higher on Tuesday, including benchmark U.S. crude jumping 8.6% to $77.36 a barrel and Brent crude rising 6.7% to $81.29 a barrel, as the war’s shipping risks continued to worry markets. The AP said crude prices are the biggest driver of what U.S. motorists pay, and that higher oil prices typically reach the pump within a couple of weeks.
In other parts of the United States, drivers described their own concerns about household and business costs. In Burlington, Massachusetts, Erin Kelly said she paid more than $5 for premium gasoline and called the price “hefty,” while another driver in Jackson, Mississippi, Brody Wilkins, said increased prices could affect his landscaping and construction work that uses fuel continuously.
With diesel and crude markets reacting to Persian Gulf disruption and with consumers preparing for potentially larger swings, analysts cited by the AP warned that the immediate spike could be only the beginning—especially in places and sectors most exposed to imported fuel and constrained supply.