US Energy Secretary Chris Wright appears before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy hearing on the Trump administration’s 2027 budget request for the Department of Energy on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, US, on April 15, 2026.
Nathan Howard | reuters
Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Sunday that gas prices may not fall below $3 until next year, as the U.S. war with Iran and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz continue to wreak havoc on energy markets.
“I don’t know, it might be later this year, it might not be until next year, but prices have probably peaked,” Wright said on CNN’s “State of the Union” when asked when prices at the pump would return to pre-war figures. “Certainly with the resolution of this conflict, energy prices will go down.”
Wright said that “under $3 a gallon is pretty tremendous in inflation-adjusted terms. We had that in the Trump administration, but we haven’t seen that in inflation-adjusted terms for quite a long time. We’ll definitely get back there.”
Gas prices have increased since the US started war with Iran. Since the war began, Tehran has largely closed the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping channel that carries about a fifth of the world’s oil.
The price of regular unleaded in the US averaged $2.90 a gallon on February 1. gasbuddy. Since the war began on February 28, gas prices per gallon have increased and currently average $4.04 per gallon. to aaa.
US envoys are set to meet again with their Iranian counterparts in Islamabad, Pakistan, on Monday for talks to end the war. Oil Prices fell late last week after both the US and iran Said to be opening the strait to commerce.
But Iran fired on two tankers passing through the Strait of Hormuz over the weekend, dashing hopes that the ceasefire between the US and Iran would hold and the strait would be fully reopened to trade.