The statewide gas average went slightly up Thursday in California, as the United States and Iran trade new attacks.
After weeks of slightly lower prices following President Donald Trump’s announced ceasefire, AAA says California’s statewide average ticked back up overnight.
The price increase comes as new video shows a fresh round of U.S. strikes on Iran after the Iran’s recent attacks on commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
“We just hit them very hard, and I say we hit up 20 to one every time they hit us, we’re going to hit them 20,” Trump said.
For months, Trump said Iran was prepared to reach a deal. Now, he’s not so sure.
“I just don’t know if they’re worthy of making a deal. I don’t know that they’re going to honor the deal, that’s the problem,” he said.
“The problem with the memorandum of understanding is that it was pretty vague, there were a lot of things to be settled,” Professor Stephen Zunes, director of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of San Francisco, said.
Zunes believes the conflict could drag on for months, making it harder to bring prices back down.
“What I fear here frankly is that this is going to be the kind of thing we’re going to be seeing going on for weeks, or even months or even longer.”
And he says the impact could reach far beyond the gas pump.
Higher fuel costs can make it more expensive to transport goods, and drive up farming costs, which can lead to higher grocery bills.
“The farmers, who have to pay more for fertilizer, fuel for their tractors, higher food prices,” he said. “The economic impacts are going to continue to worsen.”
They’re impacts that many families locally can’t afford.