Oil prices have dropped from above $110 per barrel to below $100, the Strait of Hormuz is reopening, and President Trump is pointing fingers at the companies that kept pump prices elevated while crude fell. The result: a Department of Justice probe that’s now sending ripples through the entire energy trading ecosystem.
On June 19-20, Trump confirmed that oil tankers were once again “flowing out” of the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway that handles roughly a fifth of global oil transit. The de-escalation of US-Iran hostilities, which began with military actions in March, should theoretically mean relief at the gas pump. But here’s the thing: the national average price of regular gasoline hit $4.52 per gallon, a dramatic jump from the $2.98 consumers were paying before the conflict began.
The DOJ probe and $2.6 billion in suspicious profits
The Justice Department and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission are now investigating at least four oil trades that generated over $2.6 billion in profits. The trades were placed between March and April 2026, and each one was suspiciously well-timed, essentially betting on price drops shortly before significant announcements related to the US-Iran conflict.
