Gas prices could surge this week as President Donald Trump’s military action in Iran and a seasonal jump in driving combine to push pump prices sharply higher.

According to Patrick De Haan, the head of Petroleum Analysis at GasBuddy, gas prices are expected to start climbing on Monday. Over the coming week, De Haan expects the price of gas at the average station to rise 10–30 cents per gallon, but “potentially 30–85 cents per gallon jumps at individual stations.”

If things go “bad at every turn,” De Haan said, consumers could potentially see prices rising by even more than 50 cents per gallon, MarketWatch reports.

MarketWatch adds that there is “little doubt that the military strikes launched this weekend by the U.S. and Israel on Iran, one of the world’s largest crude producers, will lead to a spike in oil prices” — and that the bigger question is how hard that will hit American drivers at the pump.

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De Haan notes that Trump’s military action in Iran “is adding volatility and risk premium, but it’s landing on top of an already firming market.”

He says that gas prices have been rising for four straight weeks, and 36 states saw average gas prices “rising over the last week “with the national average up to $2.94/gal.”

Citing De Haan, MarketWatch adds that without a doubt, “the Iran attack looks to be the biggest pricing event for gasoline since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.”

“Americans will be very anxious about what the conflict could mean for oil prices, given how President Donald Trump made low oil prices his ‘signature policy,’ De Haan said.”

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President Donald Trump has communicated to the American people through multiple channels about the objectives of his “Operation Epic Fury” — the large-scale military campaign now underway against Iran — though critics contend those objectives continue to shift.

According to The Economist’s Middle East correspondent Gregg Carlstrom, “Trump is basically calling up every journalist in his phone to workshop different timelines and goals for his war.”

Overnight, Carlstrom wrote that in the past two days, Trump told several different media outlets about various goals for the war.

He told The Washington Post that the aim is “freedom for the people” of Iran, Carlstrom wrote.

Trump told Axios that maybe we can “end it in two or three days” with a deal.

He told The New York Times that it might be “four to five weeks,” and said that he has “three very good choices” for who might take control in Iran.

But then, Carlstrom wrote, Trump told ABC News, “actually, nevermind, we killed those choices.”

“He doesn’t sound convinced by any of it,” said Carlstrom. “He’s throwing spaghetti at the wall. Ultimately I suspect he just wants to say he ‘solved’ a problem that has vexed every American president since Jimmy Carter.”

“But there’s no clear idea what that looks like and no plan for how to get there. And there are plenty of possible scenarios in which Trump declares victory and leaves the region with an absolute mess,” he warned.

Others appeared to agree.

New York Times conservative columnist David French, an Iraq War veteran, responded to Carlstrom, saying: “This is an absolute mess.”

Historian Timo R. Stewart wrote: “Throwing spaghetti at the wall is an apt summary of the White House’s chaotic messaging related to the war that has just begun.”

Journalist Alan Friedman added, “No one ever accused the Trump administration of having a clear strategy on matters of tariffs, trade wars, invasions, kidnappings, threats against Greenland or his new war of choice against Iran. He is making it up as he goes along, folks. Hard to believe, but this is improv.”

National security expert Marc Polymeropoulos wrote, “I’m sure someone will say this is deliberate deception, part of his brilliance….”

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President Donald Trump took to Truth Social on Friday afternoon to order federal agencies to stop using Anthropic products after the Artificial Intelligence company refused to work with the Pentagon this week.

“THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA WILL NEVER ALLOW A RADICAL LEFT, WOKE COMPANY TO DICTATE HOW OUR GREAT MILITARY FIGHTS AND WINS WARS! That decision belongs to YOUR COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF, and the tremendous leaders I appoint to run our Military,” Trump wrote on his social media platform.

“The Leftwing nut jobs at Anthropic have made a DISASTROUS MISTAKE trying to STRONG-ARM the Department of War, and force them to obey their Terms of Service instead of our Constitution. Their selfishness is putting AMERICAN LIVES at risk, our Troops in danger, and our National Security in JEOPARDY,” he continued.

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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth met with Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei on Tuesday to negotiate how the Pentagon would be allowed to use the company’s AI software, according to CNBC. Amodei wanted assurances that its technology would not be used to conduct mass domestic surveillance or to use fully autonomous weapons.

“Partially autonomous weapons, like those used today in Ukraine, are vital to the defense of democracy. Even fully autonomous weapons (those that take humans out of the loop entirely and automate selecting and engaging targets) may prove critical for our national defense. But today, frontier AI systems are simply not reliable enough to power fully autonomous weapons. We will not knowingly provide a product that puts America’s warfighters and civilians at risk,” Amodei said in a statement.

On Thursday, Sean Parnell, the chief spokesman for the Pentagon, tweeted there was “no interest” in using AI to do either, but said that it would “not let ANY company dictate the terms regarding how we make operational decisions.” Parnell also said the company had a 5:01 PM deadline to decide to accept the Pentagon’s terms or be deemed “a supply chain risk.”

The Department of War has no interest in using AI to conduct mass surveillance of Americans (which is illegal) nor do we want to use AI to develop autonomous weapons that operate without human involvement. This narrative is fake and being peddled by leftists in the media.… https://t.co/3pjWZ66aXz

— Sean Parnell (@SeanParnellASW) February 26, 2026

A little over an hour before the deadline, Trump declared the government would not work with Anthropic at all.

“Therefore, I am directing EVERY Federal Agency in the United States Government to IMMEDIATELY CEASE all use of Anthropic’s technology. We don’t need it, we don’t want it, and will not do business with them again! There will be a Six Month phase out period for Agencies like the Department of War who are using Anthropic’s products, at various levels. Anthropic better get their act together, and be helpful during this phase out period, or I will use the Full Power of the Presidency to make them comply, with major civil and criminal consequences to follow,” Trump wrote.

“WE will decide the fate of our Country — NOT some out-of-control, Radical Left AI company run by people who have no idea what the real World is all about. Thank you for your attention to this matter. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” he added.

Anthropic competitor OpenAI said it had the same restrictions as Anthropic, according to NPR. However, this week, Elon Musk of xAI, said that his company would allow both mass surveillance and fully autonomous weapons controlled by its program, Grok, according to The New York Times.

Image via Reuters