In Dallas on Friday, March 6, 2026, a bright gas station sign became a kind of bulletin board for anxiety: drivers rolled in, paused, looked up, and did the math in their heads. The oil price shock was no longer an abstract number tied to a faraway conflict; it was a week-to-week jolt that could change where a family drives, what a worker can afford, and how much patience people have left.
What is driving the Oil Price surge and the spike in U. S. gas prices?
Gas prices are surging across the United States as fallout from the U. S. -Israeli attack on Iran continues to choke global oil supplies. The national average for a gallon of regular gasoline jumped by 14% in a week to $3. 41 on Saturday, based on data from the AAA motor club. AAA noted the price had been under $3 a week earlier.
At the center of the disruption is the Strait of Hormuz, described as a vital waterway off the coast of Iran through which about 20% of the world’s crude oil and natural gas typically passes. The conflict has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, sending crude oil above $90 a barrel. Natural gas prices in Europe have risen even more sharply.
Iran threatened in the first days of the war to attack any vessel traveling through the strait. On Saturday, a Revolutionary Guard spokesman said it would remain open to all traffic except U. S. and Israeli ships, saying: “We did not close the Strait of Hormuz and will not, but we will target ships belonging to the U. S. regime and the Zionist entity transiting the Strait of Hormuz. ” Even so, the number of tankers passing through the strait has dropped to zero since Wednesday.
How quickly are costs rising for drivers—and how high could they go?
For drivers watching the digits climb, the speed of the increase is part of the sting. AAA said the last time the national average made a similar weekly jump was back in March of 2022 during the start of the Russia/Ukraine conflict. The comparison underscores how fast global events can translate into a domestic squeeze.
AAA also cautioned that prices may rise higher still. The last time crude oil was above $90 a barrel, AAA noted, the average price of a gallon of gas in the U. S. was $3. 80. For households already mapping errands to minimize miles, a move toward that level would turn a stressful week into a longer budgeting season.
The pressure is not limited to a single chokepoint. Retaliatory Iranian missile attacks on oil and gas infrastructure in Gulf countries that host U. S. military bases—such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates—have also impacted production and prices. The effect is cumulative: a narrower path for supplies, disrupted infrastructure, and markets reacting to uncertainty. The oil price becomes the headline number, but the lived reality is the daily refill that suddenly feels negotiable.
What are U. S. officials doing, and how is the White House framing the pain?
President Donald Trump made affordability a central plank of his 2024 campaign for the White House. In his State of the Union address late last month, he argued his administration had kept prices down, claiming: “Gasoline, which reached a peak of over $6 a gallon in some states under my predecessor and was, quite honestly, a disaster, is now below $2. 30 a gallon in most states, and in some places $1. 99 a gallon. ” He added that during a visit to Iowa he saw $1. 85 a gallon for gasoline.
But this week, in an interview with, Trump dismissed concerns about rising prices. “I don’t have any concern about it, ” he said. “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. ”
Policy responses are also taking shape. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent issued a 30-day waiver on U. S. sanctions on the sale of Russian oil to India in a bid to increase supply. The move reflects the urgency officials face when oil price swings start showing up on street-corner signs: the government’s levers are limited, but the public’s tolerance can be even more limited.
Back in Dallas, the scene is less about geopolitics than timing. A week ago, the national average was under $3; now it is $3. 41. Those are not just numbers—they are moments when drivers decide whether to top off, wait, or drive away. And as the Strait of Hormuz remains disrupted and tankers have stopped moving through it, the question hanging in the air at the pump is simple: if the oil price can jump this quickly, how long before the next recalculation becomes routine?
