Gas, oil prices worry GOP as Trump floats taking over Strait of Hormuz

Republicans on Capitol Hill are growing worried about President Trump’s bet that Americans are willing to swallow higher gas prices due to the conflict with Iran, especially ahead of the November elections. 

The president, only weeks ago in his State of the Union address, had pointed to lowering gas prices as a major victory for his economic agenda. But the Iran conflict is sending oil prices soaring to levels not seen since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Trump in a social media post over the weekend argued that an uptick in “short term oil prices” is a “very small price to pay” for eliminating the Iranian nuclear threat.

Some Republicans, though, are questioning that idea, especially as they head into a political season that could be perilous for the party in power.

“That’s always bad,” Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) said about the prospect of rising gas prices this summer and in the coming months. “People are traveling, they’re starting to travel now. The weather finally got good.” 

The West Virginia Republican also echoed Trump, however, arguing that “a little bit of patience” is needed amid fluctuations, which were on full display on Monday.  

Crude oil prices went on a roller coaster over the past two days, having shot up from $91 per barrel to $116 when trading opened on Sunday night. The price ultimately settled at $87 after Trump told CBS News that he is “thinking about” taking over the Strait of Hormuz, which has been closed amid Iranian threats to ships passing through.

The waterway, which lies between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula, is the most important passageway for the oil market, with roughly 20 percent of the world’s oil consumption being exported through it. Its closure led to a cut in production by Gulf Arab countries, which caused the initial spike.

The latest state of play has also caused gas prices across the U.S. to rise, with the average price for a gallon of regular gas checking in at $3.49 on Monday — roughly 70 cents higher than the beginning of 2026.

That’s left party leaders concerned.

“The price of gas is always a benchmark,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said. “It’s something everybody pays attention to.” 

“Hopefully the operations in Iran will be such that there … won’t be an extended situation in which things start moving again, and shipping lanes get opened up again,” he continued. “Hopefully things will settle down. … I hope that the operations there are successful, and that once those objectives have been achieved — that things can resume some sense of normalcy in that region in terms of shipping lanes, et cetera, and access to energy reserves that a number of countries in the region possess.” 

Despite the plea for patience, there are signs of distress among some on the GOP side amid the oil tumult. 

When asked whether there was anything the president or Congress could do to bring down costs on gas and key crops in his state, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) was curt.

“Get the war in Iran over,” Grassley said. 

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) also made her dissatisfaction with the state of play known late last week, criticizing the administration for appearing to not consider energy prices when entering the war. 

“For heaven’s sakes, are you telling me you didn’t game this one out? I’m starting to think they didn’t game this one out,” she recently told Punchbowl News. 

The latest battle over oil also plays into the ongoing fight over affordability in the U.S., which Democrats are hoping to ride to a big electoral win later in the year. 

According to an NBC News poll released over the weekend, only 36 percent of voters approve of the president’s handling of the cost of living and inflation, with 62 percent disapproving — a notable downturn from last year. 

Some in the House GOP also see the rising prices as problematic.

“The price of gas has gone up $0.47 and the price of diesel has gone up $0.83 in 10 days due to War with Iran. And waging war costs American taxpayers about $1 billion per day, which comes out to $10 per family per day, or $100 since the war began,” Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), a fiscal hawk conservative, wrote on X. “This isn’t America First.”

But others indicated they are less concerned. 

Rep. Tony Wied (R-Wis.) told The Hill that he thinks Trump is “focused on lower gas prices” and thinks those prices will come down once the conflict in the Middle East gets resolved.

“I think he’s the right person for the job and I trust him,” Wied said.

But it’s unclear when the operation with Iran will end. Trump told reporters on Monday that the war will end “very soon,” but not this week. He previously projected that it would last four or five weeks, cautioning that “we have capability to go far longer than that.”

Republicans have indicated they want the war to wrap up as soon as possible and for the president, especially with the economics that are at play. 

“We should always be aware of the economic impacts anytime you have hostilities, any place in the world, the markets will respond,” said Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), who is up for reelection in the fall.

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