Gasoline prices have shot up about 20% since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28, to a national average of $3.59 per gallon. The cost of diesel fuel — vital to trucking, agriculture and other industries — has jumped 33% in the past month.
After 12 days of warfare against the Islamic republic, President Trump has declared, “We won.” Even if it were true militarily — but U.S. forces are still actively waging war, troops are still in harm’s way — the global impact is far from over.
Even if the president decides to cease hostilities tomorrow, it’s increasingly clear that the Iranians still will have some control over the economic shockwaves. One-fifth of the world’s oil supply, and other key products such as fertilizer, move through the narrow Strait of Hormuz, where Iran is attacking commercial ships.
According to Mr. Trump, the war is turning out to be “easier than we thought.” The White House said the U.S. attacks have destroyed Iran’s missile and nuclear capabilities, one of the primary goals.
“We’ve knocked out just about everything there is, including their leadership. Now they have a new group coming up,” Mr. Trump said. “Let’s see what happens to them.”
The administration is also promising that oil prices will come back down.
“Once the national security objectives of Operation Epic Fury are achieved, Americans will see oil and gas prices drop rapidly, potentially even lower than they were prior to the start of the operation,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said.
Even habitually bungling Democrats know a midterm election opportunity when they see one.
Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, urged Mr. Trump to tap into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, saying the president is delusional. “He has no clue what it’s like to struggle to pay for gas, to pay for the rent, to pay for groceries. He’s in a bubble,” Mr. Schumer said.
European energy officials are calling the disruption to oil markets the largest in history and have decided to release the largest supply ever from their oil reserves: 400 million barrels. Later, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright announced the Trump administration will release 172 million barrels of oil from its reserve.
The U.S. also waived sanctions on some Russian oil until April 11 in another attempt to ease rising prices.
Mr. Trump, seeking to reverse the longtime decline in U.S.-based oil refining, also took credit for a new oil refinery set to open in Brownsville, Texas.
The immediate economic turmoil has nearly eclipsed the administration’s rationale for the war — Iran’s decades-long campaign of global terrorism, dating to the hostage crisis at the U.S. embassy in Tehran in 1979.
Iran’s campaign of terror included as many as 360 targeted assassinations, dozens of terrorist plots and violent attacks in more than 40 countries. Iran-backed militias are responsible for killing at least 603 U.S. troops during the Iraq War alone from 2003 to 2011. Iran has twice attempted to assassinate Mr. Trump.
Matthew Levitt, senior fellow and director of the Reinhard Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence at the Washington Institute, said an intact Islamist regime is unlikely to pull back from its holy war.
