Luis Catalano, a taxi driver waiting to fuel up at a gas station in Buenos Aires, described a tightening gap between rising costs and paychecks as fuel prices surge globally with the Iran war continuing into a 24th day. He said, “For now, we’re still managing to hold on,” but added, “But I don’t know for how long.” Across continents, people interviewed for the Associated Press account described giving up small comforts as everyday costs bloat and they try to keep up with major bills.
The AP report said a brief glimmer of hope emerged Monday after U.S. President Donald Trump said talks were ongoing with Iranian leaders and that the sides were eager to make a deal to end the war. Trump’s comments drove down global oil prices, with the price for a barrel of Brent crude falling 9.7% to $101.26, the report said, from nearly $120 the previous week.
Iran denied that any talks had been held, and Iran’s parliament speaker called Trump’s claim a ploy to manipulate markets, according to the Associated Press. The report also said the news had no immediate impact on consumer prices, highlighting how quickly price swings in crude do not necessarily reach households.
In Argentina, Catalano said, “We’re just barely getting by,” as he waited to refuel. The AP reported that even as global markets moved, motorists continued to bear the cost because of how oil travels from drill sites to refineries, then through pipelines and tankers to terminals and finally gas stations—an arrangement that can introduce delays between global benchmarks and pump prices.
German Toledo, a 38-year-old road safety worker who was fueling up at a YPF station in Buenos Aires, told the AP that surging gas prices had piled onto other rising costs and stagnant wages. Toledo said his salary hasn’t budged in five years and that, “You can’t make it to the end of the month.” The report said he described needing more than one job to make ends meet.
In Germany, Kevin Plucken, a 35-year-old janitor in Cologne, told the AP that he could only afford to put 20 euros of gas into his car at a time. He said he was changing how he spends his weekends, including scaling back activities for his two children, and added that cutting costs had become “burdensome.”
In Lagos, Nigeria, Felicia Iwasa told the AP, “Everything is going up,” and said, “The economy is not easy for us.” In Manila, Philippines, drivers of the “jeepneys”—street icons powered by diesel and rooted in modified vehicles left from earlier eras—described similarly constrained choices as diesel costs rose even higher than gasoline, the report said.
Johnny Pagnado, a 55-year-old jeepney driver, said he was cutting costs wherever possible, including limiting spending down to a nightly bedtime bottle of beer, while worrying about the longer term, including affording four children’s education. Another driver, 34-year-old Sandy Roño, told the AP he expected to forgo a beach trip to celebrate his birthday next month, saying he couldn’t even afford his rent last month and that he was not able to make the payment on his jeepney. Roño said, “I’ll stop driving and look for another job,” if prices remain high.
The AP report said the delay between global oil moves and what consumers pay is shaped by the path crude follows before it becomes gasoline or diesel. It described oil as needing time to move from drill sites, pass through refineries, and then be shipped to terminals, before fuel arrives at gas stations—helping explain why people said they continued to feel the pressure even when markets responded quickly to diplomatic headlines.