President Trump stood before a crowd in Garden City, New York, on August 14 and delivered a message most politicians spend their careers avoiding: prices are going up, and you should be okay with it.
The ask? Accept higher costs at the pump as the price of keeping Iran’s nuclear ambitions in check. Trump called it a small sacrifice to protect against what he described as a “very evil country,” adding that he would not apologize for the economic toll.
The numbers behind the pain
Average US gasoline prices have climbed to approximately $4.08 per gallon, a roughly 29% increase compared to the same period last year.
The Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway through which roughly a fifth of the world’s oil supply typically flows, has effectively been shut to crude shipments. On August 14, only two vessels transited the strait, and neither was carrying crude oil. Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister underlined Tehran’s control over the chokepoint that same day.
