Gas prices are surging to their highest level of the year as the Iran war grinds on

Crude benchmarks moved sharply higher before giving back some gains: WTI, the U.S. standard, crossed $99 a barrel, while Brent surged past $111 before pulling back when the United Arab Emirates announced it would exit OPEC next month.

At the root of the price surge is the Strait of Hormuz — a chokepoint separating Iran from Oman through which roughly a fifth of global oil and gas moves under normal conditions. Each of two Iranian decisions to reopen the waterway has been reversed, according to The Hill, keeping oil tankers unable to pass through.

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that Iran had asked the U.S. to reopen the strait. He did not say who relayed the message or whether the administration would act on the request. A proposal put forward by Iranian officials, as reported by The Associated Press citing two regional officials, offered to restore access to the strait while keeping Iran's nuclear activities off the negotiating table. Secretary of State Marco Rubio rejected that framing. "That fundamental issue still has to be confronted. That still remains the core issue here," Rubio told Fox News.

Since the fighting broke out, the ongoing blockage of the strait has pushed crude oil prices up by roughly half. Because turning crude oil into retail fuel involves refining, transport, and distribution steps that take time, pump prices tend to follow crude market moves with a delay. Earlier this month, the U.S. Energy Information Administration projected prices could peak close to $4.30 per gallon by the end of April, though it acknowledged the forecast depends on variables — including how and when normal traffic through the strait resumes — that have no historical precedent.

In a Reuters/Ipsos survey published last week, roughly three in four Americans said the president bears some degree of blame for the run-up in fuel costs.