{"id":373990,"date":"2026-04-11T03:48:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-11T03:48:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/373990\/"},"modified":"2026-04-11T03:48:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-11T03:48:10","slug":"us-inflation-surges-to-3-3-as-impact-of-iran-war-bites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/373990\/","title":{"rendered":"US inflation surges to 3.3% as impact of Iran war bites"},"content":{"rendered":"

The United States and Israel began bombing Iran on February 28 and Tehran retaliated by blocking traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway used to carry a fifth of the world\u2019s oil and gas deliveries.<\/p>\n

\"OilOil shipments through the strategic Strait of Hormuz have slowed dramatically during the conflict, tightening global energy supply. Photo \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

Despite being the world\u2019s top producer of crude oil, the United States also felt the pain, as prices at the petrol pump shot up.<\/p>\n

A gallon (3.8 litres) of regular petrol costs an average of US$4.15 ($7.10) in the United States, compared with about US$3 just before the war.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration, elected in part on a promise to quash inflation, maintains the war\u2019s economic disruptions will be temporary.<\/p>\n

Reacting to the data out Friday, White House spokesperson Kush Desai said the US economy \u201cremains on a solid trajectory\u201d.<\/p>\n

Economic adviser Kevin Hassett claimed some wins for the White House, citing drops in the price of eggs, beef and concert tickets on Fox News.<\/p>\n

US Vice-President JD Vance said Friday he hoped for a \u201cpositive\u201d outcome as he departed Washington for US-Iran peace talks in Pakistan this weekend.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe military conflict in Iran has driven geopolitical uncertainty, sending shockwaves through global energy markets. Photo \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

But experts predicted more economic pain ahead because of the war in Iran, especially for middle and lower-income households already squeezed by rising energy and airfare prices.<\/p>\n

Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union, said inflation soared in March to the highest level in almost two years.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is only the beginning. Food prices, travel and shipping costs are all going up in April and will exacerbate the pain,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMarch CPI was as expected, so no surprises. But there is a huge increase in fuel prices, boosting inflation,\u201d Christopher Low of FHN Financial told AFP. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd we got the news last night that the ceasefire is not being honoured by either side, apparently,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s still very little traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.\u201d <\/p>\n

Some economists calculate the oil price surge will cost each US household at least US$350 per household. <\/p>\n

\"FederalFederal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell signals concern that rising energy costs could delay progress in controlling inflation. Photo \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

Consumer sentiment also dipped sharply \u2013 11% \u2013 this month, according to a University of Michigan survey. <\/p>\n

During the Federal Reserve\u2019s most recent meeting in mid-March, chairman Jerome Powell said the war risked delaying efforts to bring inflation under control in the United States. <\/p>\n

The US central bank\u2019s target for inflation is 2% \u2013 an objective it has not met in five years because of the Covid pandemic, the war in Ukraine and tariffs.<\/p>\n

\u2013 Agence France-Presse<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The United States and Israel began bombing Iran on February 28 and Tehran retaliated by blocking traffic in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":373991,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[51582,6336,806,17517,16640,138,3105,3806,219,1667,266,6098,13484,23500,1943,16609,700,1535,10110,111,139,69,1118,12937,12000,20263,418,9939,21938,61,9938,3040,6149],"class_list":{"0":"post-373990","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-51582","9":"tag-americans","10":"tag-as","11":"tag-because","12":"tag-bites","13":"tag-business","14":"tag-data","15":"tag-east","16":"tag-economy","17":"tag-energy","18":"tag-government","19":"tag-hard","20":"tag-higher","21":"tag-impact","22":"tag-inflation","23":"tag-iran","24":"tag-latest","25":"tag-march","26":"tag-middle","27":"tag-new-zealand","28":"tag-newzealand","29":"tag-nz","30":"tag-of","31":"tag-prices","32":"tag-rose","33":"tag-sharply","34":"tag-shows","35":"tag-states","36":"tag-surges","37":"tag-to","38":"tag-united","39":"tag-us","40":"tag-war"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373990","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=373990"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373990\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/373991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=373990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=373990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=373990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}