On February 28th, 2026, the United States of America coordinated with Israel to launch major air strikes on Iran.
Although the United States Congress has yet to announce a formal declaration of war against Iran, and therefore these strikes cannot be formally addressed as a war quite yet, American citizens have already begun to take note of the resulting negative effects.
The main impact for everyday US citizens is the rising cost of gas prices.
Already, in just over a week since the air strikes hit, prices for oil have surged to costs over $100 dollars per barrel. This is a stark comparison between January’s prices where oil generally cost between $60-$65. That is over a 50% price increase. It’s no wonder that, in some areas, gas prices have risen 30, 40, or 50 cents per gallon. In other areas, prices have risen even more.
But why is the price of gas continuing to rise?
The US’s conflict with Iran is the cause. Iran supplies, on average, 3.3 to 3.5 million barrels of oil per day and is the third-largest producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), having control of roughly 10% of the world’s current petroleum reserves. Because of this disruption of the oil supply to the United States, prices are surging across the nation.
The gas prices range greatly depending on which state you reside.
As of March 9th, the lowest prices are seen in states such as Oklahoma and Mississippi, where gas is priced in the lower $2.60’s, while prices have reached a high in states such as California with prices at $5.20 per gallon. The national average price stands around $3.50 per gallon with a 14% increase in the past week alone.
Right here in Decatur we’ve seen the effect that the international conflict has on gas prices. Two weeks ago, gas prices were around $2.70-$2.80 per gallon. Now, we’ve seen prices as high as $3.59, an increase of nearly 80-90 cents in the past two weeks alone.
So how will gas prices continue to trend in the upcoming weeks? With the developing conflict between Iran and the United States, we can expect to see gas prices continue to rise in the short term. In some lower-priced areas, costs may continue to rise to over $4.00 per gallon.
