{"id":177203,"date":"2026-03-04T02:56:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T02:56:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/177203\/"},"modified":"2026-03-04T02:56:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T02:56:08","slug":"fort-myers-residents-see-gas-prices-climb-due-to-iran-conflict","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/177203\/","title":{"rendered":"Fort Myers residents see gas prices climb due to Iran conflict |"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>FORT MYERS, Fla. &#8211; As the conflict in Iran intensifies, drivers in the U.S. are starting to feel the effects at the gas pump.<\/p>\n<p>Mark Jennings from AAA explained that while gas prices are rising, they are not skyrocketing.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The state average has been around $3.00 per gallon over the past year,&#8221; said Jennings.<\/p>\n<p>On Tuesday, the average gas price was $3.07, with expectations of rising to $3.19 by Wednesday. Jennings attributed the increases to the conflict in Iran, which has created uncertainty in the global oil market. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a major shipping channel, has led to oil sitting on barges, pushing crude oil prices higher.<\/p>\n<p>Jennings noted, &#8220;Every $1 increase in the price of crude oil typically adds about 2.5 cents to the price of gasoline.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Florida experiences regular &#8220;gas price cycling,&#8221; where gas stations lower prices to compete and then raise them on Mondays. This routine fluctuation is now compounded by conflict-related increases.<\/p>\n<p>Victor Claar, a professor from Florida Gulf Coast University, shared insights on the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR).<\/p>\n<p>Claar stated, &#8220;It&#8217;s for real emergencies,&#8221; likening it to a &#8220;break glass in case of emergency&#8221; scenario.<\/p>\n<p>Claar also emphasized that the U.S. does not currently face a crisis requiring the SPR, as domestic production and global suppliers remain strong. Current price spikes are driven by supply chain disruptions and fear, not a structural shortage.<\/p>\n<p>Drivers like Ron Klassem and Medilhomme Ceus expressed concerns over rising fuel costs. Klassem noted a significant price jump in just a few days, which impacts his business that requires large quantities of diesel fuel.<\/p>\n<p>Ceus said, &#8220;It cost me $100 to fill a truck. But what now, I don&#8217;t know. Maybe later on, it&#8217;s going to be more.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Experts agree that the overall theme is uncertainty. Jennings concluded by stating that while gas prices are rising, they are not reaching &#8220;apocalyptic&#8221; levels.<\/p>\n<p>The situation remains fluid, with potential for further fluctuations as the war in Iran continues to unfold.<\/p>\n<p>For more data on daily gas price averages, head to .\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FORT MYERS, Fla. &#8211; As the conflict in Iran intensifies, drivers in the U.S. are starting to feel&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":177204,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[83755,209,211,210,83756,11413,83752,83751,28,9149,897,83754,11248,83659,83749,83746,21539,83757,19728,83750,26684,13853,83753,83747,4571,83748],"class_list":{"0":"post-177203","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cape-coral","8":"tag-average-gas-price","9":"tag-cape-coral","10":"tag-cape-coral-headlines","11":"tag-cape-coral-news","12":"tag-ceus","13":"tag-crude-oil","14":"tag-crude-oil-prices","15":"tag-daily-gas-price-averages","16":"tag-florida","17":"tag-florida-gulf-coast-university","18":"tag-fort-myers","19":"tag-gas-price-cycling","20":"tag-gas-prices","21":"tag-gas-pump","22":"tag-gas-stations-lower-prices","23":"tag-gasoline-and-diesel-usage-and-pricing","24":"tag-iran","25":"tag-medilhomme-ceus","26":"tag-oil","27":"tag-oil-market","28":"tag-pricing","29":"tag-professor","30":"tag-ron-klassem","31":"tag-strait-of-hormuz","32":"tag-united-states","33":"tag-victor-claar"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=177203"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177203\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/177204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=177203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=177203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=177203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}