Photo: FREDERIC J. BROWN / AFP / Getty Images
US gas prices have surged to their highest average since August 2024, driven by escalating military conflict between the United States, Israel, and Iran that is rattling global energy markets.
The national average price for a gallon of regular gasoline climbed to $3.41 a gallon on Saturday (March 7), according to AAA's gas price tracker.
The spike follows a surge in crude oil prices after the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iranian targets last Saturday (February 28). Iran has since launched retaliatory attacks, including a strike on a tanker passing through the Strait of Hormuz — a narrow waterway along Iran's southern coast that handles roughly one-fifth of global oil consumption. Any significant disruption there could push prices even higher.
Brent crude, the global benchmark for oil pricing, traded above $91 a barrel on Friday morning, its highest level since mid-2024.
Iran has also targeted regional energy infrastructure, including facilities tied to Qatar's liquefied natural gas exports, adding further pressure to global energy supplies.
Retail analysts caution that higher fuel costs reach well beyond the gas pump. Carol Spieckerman, an independent retail analyst, told Business Insider that the political and economic weight of gas prices is significant. "As oil prices rise, gas prices follow," she said. "And with the administration promising lower prices and consumers laser-focused on the pump, this metric has been given arguably more political and psychological energy than any other economic variable."
With military tensions between the US, Israel, and Iran still unresolved, energy analysts and retailers alike are watching closely to see whether crude oil prices — and the gas prices that follow — will continue to climb in the days and weeks ahead.