Over 3 months later: Donald Trump’s Iran war continues to drain American wallets

What you need to know: At 107 days, Trump's reckless Iran war has cost Americans a growing $58.8 billion in extra fuel costs. California's petroleum watchdog is out with a new market update - and the findings make clear that Trump's recklessness is still hitting consumers hard.

SACRAMENTO - Last week, California's Division of Petroleum Market Oversight (DPMO), the nation's first and only independent petroleum watchdog, issued its latest California Gasoline and Diesel Market Update. The findings are clear: the Iran war has driven up gas prices across the country and branded gasoline suppliers in California are adding to the pain at the pump.

Over 3 months ago, Donald Trump launched a war with no plan to protect the Strait of Hormuz - trapping an estimated 20% of the global oil supply in the Persian Gulf. Every $10-per-barrel increase in crude translates to roughly 24 cents more per gallon, which has hit drivers in Texas, Florida, California, and everywhere else.

Donald Trump launched a war with no plan to protect Americans' economic security, and over 3 months later, every state is still paying the price. He's eating into workers' wages, wiping out their tax refunds, and driving up the cost of everything from gas to groceries to plane tickets. And his response is to say he loves inflation while Big Oil rakes in profits. American families shouldn't have to pay the price for Trump's negligence. That's why California's petroleum watchdog is monitoring the market every single day to protect consumers.

Governor Gavin Newsom

California's watchdog monitoring the market and protecting consumers

DPMO is an independent agency within the California Energy Commission and the only petroleum market watchdog of its kind in the United States. Between February 28 and June 15, 2026, retail gas prices rose by $1.10 per gallon in California - in line with the national average of $1.08/gal. California's price increase ranks 32nd among U.S. states and the District of Columbia. The state with the highest increase is Utah, at $1.53/gal.

California has the third-largest oil refining sector in the U.S. In recent weeks, product inventories on the West Coast have been consistent with - and sometimes healthier than - inventories in the rest of the country. The Iran conflict has created what the International Energy Agency called "the largest supply disruption in the history of the global oil market," and the California Energy Commission continues to monitor supply conditions daily alongside DPMO and other state agencies.

Thanks to Senate Bill X1-2 - the California Gas Price Gouging and Transparency Law - California has critical forward visibility into supply conditions that most states simply do not have. Gas prices in California had been stable for roughly two years before the conflict began. That stability is a direct result of the oversight tools and market transparency laws championed by Governor Newsom and enacted by the Legislature.

Branded gasoline prices: adding unjustified pain on top of pain

DPMO's market update identifies a persistent and growing gap between branded and unbranded gasoline prices in California. As of 2026, branded gasoline costs $0.31/gal more than unbranded in California. That's compared to just $0.06/gal more in the rest of the country. Chevron and Shell are the highest-priced brands, with Chevron's premium over local competitors growing from $0.19/gal in 2010 to more than $0.65/gal today.

Every gallon sold in California - branded or unbranded - must meet the same rigorous state standards for emissions control and engine performance. There is no public evidence that branded gasoline outperforms unbranded gasoline in California. DPMO's investigative counsel are already on it, contacting approximately 20 of the highest-priced retail stations to determine whether prices are justified by actual input costs.

Experts say Americans will be paying for Trump's war for years

Even if the Strait of Hormuz were to fully reopen today, experts agree that Americans will be paying Trump's Iran war tax for months, if not years, to come. GasBuddy petroleum analyst Patrick De Haan told CBS News it will be "a very long, multi-month to multi-year process for things to fully normalize," adding that pre-war fuel prices won't return "until potentially mid-to-late 2027." University of Houston energy economist Ed Hirs told Texas Public Radio that even if peace breaks out, "it would probably be eight months before we could see production and throughput from the strait restored and inventories restored, so that we could get back to a prewar equilibrium." And Goldman Sachs says it expects higher energy prices to "erode" consumers' spending power through the rest of 2026 - hitting lower-income households hardest, since they spend a larger share of their budgets on food and energy.

Trump started a war that destroyed critical oil infrastructure, and it cannot be switched back on overnight. IEA executive director, Fatih Birol, has warned that it could take as long as two years to repair facilities and restore oil and gas production to prewar levels. QatarEnergy has said it could take up to five years to repair the damage from Iranian missile strikes to its facilities.

Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley have reached the same conclusion: the Iran war has almost entirely canceled out Americans' tax refunds.

A trail of nonsensical lies

On February 28, Donald Trump bombed Iran with no plan to safeguard the Strait of Hormuz - a critical waterway where 20 percent of global oil trade passes through daily. The result: crude prices shot up, translating into higher prices on everything from gasoline and diesel to jet fuel and shipped goods.

On March 8, as gas prices spiked nationwide, Energy Secretary Wright said on CBS's Face the Nation: "We have a temporary period of elevated energy prices, but it will not be long. In the worst case, this is weeks - this is not months, and it leads to a better place." Today, over 3 months in, that statement stands as either a lie or a stunning display of negligence.

On March 12, as gas prices continued rising nationwide, President Trump posted on social media that "when oil prices go up, we make a lot of money" - an extraordinary admission that higher gas prices benefit his Big Oil donors while American families bear the cost.

On March 15, Energy Secretary Wright appeared on NBC's Meet the Press and pointed to the Sable pipeline restart as proof the administration was acting. "We've got new oil production coming on in California," Wright said. "So lots of actions we're taking to mitigate this price rise." That was a lie. Sable promised its project would "offer Californians immediate relief at the pump by making gas more affordable." That claim has prompted federal investigations and lawsuits by Sable's own investors.

On April 7, Trump's own Energy Information Administration administrator admitted that fuel prices will keep rising unless there is a solution to the Strait's closure.

On April 12, Trump confessed that gas prices "could be the same or maybe a little bit higher" by November. On the same day, he ordered a U.S. Navy blockade of the Strait of Hormuz - driving prices higher still.

On April 14, Secretary Wright accidentally let the truth slip out: "We're going to see energy prices high and maybe even rising until we get… meaningful ship traffic through the Straits of Hormuz."

On May 10, after spending over two months making predictions and promises about gas prices, Secretary Wright avoided price predictions as gas prices continued to skyrocket: "I don't know the future of gas prices" - this comes after he said there was "a good chance" that gas prices would drop below $3 per gallon before the summer travel season begins. On that same day, Wright also admitted that the only solution to Trump's energy crisis was opening up the Strait of Hormuz: "I can say that when we start to get free flow of traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, energy prices will come down."

On June 3, after weeks of falsely stating that gas prices would go down if California just drilled more oil in the ocean, Secretary Wright admitted the truth: "It's a global market."

On June 5, with gas prices still remaining high, Secretary Wright bragged that the administration increased oil production after illegally using the Defense Production Act to reopen the Sable Pipeline in Santa Barbara: "It grew California's oil and gas production by 20% - just turning a valve." He then went on to state that "lowering pump prices will ultimately take a resolution with Iran to get more oil flowing through the Strait of Hormuz."

On June 6, Secretary Wright misled the public into believing that they were boosting oil supply by 20% after forcing an illegal oil operation to run at Sable Offshore Pipeline. The truth the administration does not want Americans to know: oil from the Sable Offshore Pipeline would be a drop in the bucket - 0.05% of total oil production - that would have zero impact on lowering global oil prices. Since oil trades at a worldwide price, American crude sells to the highest bidder, not at a discount for American consumers. This is just more distraction from the real driver of gas prices.

On June 9, Secretary Wright changed his tune from March saying that the energy crisis would be temporary, now it will take "many months" to get back to normal after this energy crisis.

On June 11, with the national average gas price still up 40 percent from before the war, Trump declared: "I love it. The numbers were great… I love the inflation."

California's clean energy leadership

Since the start of the Newsom administration, California has added nearly 17,000 megawatts of battery storage - a 2,100 percent increase - and more than 30,000 megawatts of new resources that are redefining grid reliability and advancing the state's clean energy transition.

In 2023, California was powered by two-thirds clean energy - the largest economy in the world to reach that level. The state ran on 100 percent clean electricity for part of every day almost every day last year. California now holds 33% of the storage capacity the U.S. will need by 2045 to reach full clean electricity. That is what a real energy plan looks like.