The US barely gets any oil through the Strait of Hormuz. So why are gas prices up?

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

The Strait of Hormuz remains a thorny issue for the Trump administration's battle plans against Iran, despite the United States being one of the world's top oil producers and importing only a fraction of crude through the Strait compared to other countries.

In retaliation for the joint U.S.-Israel attacks on Iran that began on Feb. 28, Iran has put a stranglehold on the strait, demanding that foreign oil tankers get permission from the Islamic Republic before being allowed to pass through the critical maritime passage for the oil and shipping trades.

By choking off the strait -- the critical narrow passage between the southern coast of Iran and the northern coast of Oman that leads into the Arabian Sea -- Iran is putting enormous pressure on a global oil market that American consumers are already feeling at the gas pump.

Since the military conflict began, U.S. gas prices have gone up 81 cents to an average of $3.79 per gallon as of Tuesday, according to AAA.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/the-us-barely-gets-any-oil-through-the-strait-of-hormuz-so-why-are-gas-prices-up/ar-AA1YQL4i

[SheltieLover]

1. Because our pResident is a ruskie ASSet & pootin loves chaos

[pandr32]

2. We don't have real capitalism.

We have monopolies.

[Autumn]

3. I'm just guessing here. For extra profit? Market manipulation?

[LetMyPeopleVote]

4. MaddowBlog-Trump and his allies pitch a new idea: Maybe higher gas prices aren't 'bad news'

We’ve reached the point at which the president wants consumers to be glad they’re paying more at the pump.

Trump, in late October: “With the Democrats, you’ll be paying , , and a Gallon.”

Trump, today, as gas prices approach the levels he warned about five months ago: “When oil prices go up, we make a lot of money.”

If Dems are lucky, the White House will keep pushing this line.

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2026-03-12T16:48:06.117Z

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trump-and-his-allies-pitch-a-new-idea-maybe-higher-gas-prices-arent-bad-news

It was against this backdrop that the Republican president rolled out a very different kind of message on Thursday morning. Just 17 weeks after he wrote, “Under President Trump, ME, Gasoline will come down to approximately $2 a Gallon,” Trump tried selling Americans on the opposite message.

“The United States is the largest Oil Producer in the World, by far, so when oil prices go up, we make a lot of money,” Trump wrote.

Yes, we’ve reached the point at which the president wants consumers to be glad they’re paying more at the pump.

As a substantive matter, the problem with Trump’s claim is that the word “we” was doing a lot of work in his sentence. It’s true that the United States is producing a lot of oil, and it’s also true that higher prices help generate oil industry profits. But since the number of Americans who benefit from oil industry profits is very small, few will likely celebrate the hit to their wallets.

Complicating matters, Trump isn’t alone on this. Kelly Loeffler, head of the Small Business Administration, downplayed the importance of rising gas prices in a podcast interview this week. And on Thursday morning, Energy Secretary Chris Wright appeared on Fox News and pushed a line that was eerily similar to the president’s: “Fortunately, the United States, we produce more oil than we can consume; we’re a net oil exporter. So overall for the U.S. economy, this isn’t bad news.”

This is a message that Republicans will continue to embrace in the coming weeks and months if Democrats are extremely lucky.

The oil companies are making a ton of money from higher oil prices and American consumers are paying for these excess profits

[LetMyPeopleVote]

5. Trump's oil boast has cringing industry execs running for cover: report

The only entities making money due to higher oil and gas prices are the US oil companies. Regular people are NOT benefiting from higher oil and gas prices. trump's attempt to spin the benefits of higher gas and oil prices are pissing off the oil companies who really do NOT want US consumers to focus on the fact that they are paying for these oil companies' excess profits and earnings.

Trump's boastful Truth Social post about oil industry profits has created an embarrassing moment for energy executives who desperately want those windfall gains to remain out of public view.

— Raw Story (@rawstory.com) 2026-03-13T20:36:06Z

https://www.rawstory.com/trump-oil-2676098825/

Trump's boastful Truth Social post about oil industry profits has created an embarrassing moment for energy executives who desperately want those windfall gains to remain out of public view.

As crude oil prices settled around $95 per barrel—far above the industry's preferred $60 threshold—Trump declared on Truth Social: "The United States is the largest Oil Producer in the World, by far, so when oil prices go up, we make a lot of money."

The post crystallizes an uncomfortable reality for oil companies: they are profiting handsomely from war-driven price spikes while consumers face soaring gas prices at the pump. Since the Iran war began, crude prices have surged nearly $30 per barrel or more. Oil executives now face a public relations nightmare.

"The idea that the industry profits from war and death is not one a VP of public relations wants to promote," said Mark Jones, political science fellow at Rice University's Baker Institute.

Industry sources reacted with dismay. "Oh, boy...." one oil executive responded when shown Trump's post.

Trump's statement feeds directly into public perception that oil companies are deliberately gouging consumers. Another industry official, speaking anonymously, acknowledged the damage: "This highlights the complicated relationship the oil industry has with the president. There is also some notion that the oil and gas industry secretly works to raise prices, which is a fundamental misunderstanding of how the industry works."

[Gore1FL]

6. Global pricing is global pricing.

It is weird to me that people in the U.S. think oil companies give home-team discounts.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

7. An economics professor just exposed the massive scam behind the Iran war

An economics professor just exposed the massive scam behind the Iran war. High gas prices aren't hurting the macro economy, they are a massive wealth transfer from regular working Americans directly into the pockets of massive oil companies.

Link to tweet

[lastlib]

8. And because everyone else's oil goes through there.....

And the oil we produce is subject to the same bidding process everyone else's oil goes through, so it's bid up too. It's a bit more complicated than that, but that's a boiled-down explanation.

[hatrack]

9. It's explained by the "Because We Can" theory of economics . . . .

The end.

[lees1975]

10. Because any scuffle in the Middle East is an excuse for corporate oil to jack up the price of gas.

We all know this, all the "world market" and price data is designed to be confusing and to justify profiteering. We were already being screwed on the price of gas, by about 50%.

But more whine isn't translating into more action by our politicians regardless of what party.