The Iran War has sent prices soaring for the typical American family. But how much more are we all paying thanks to President Donald Trump’s decision to launch his idiotic war of choice? About $2,000 per household, according to an estimate from Moody’s.
Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, spoke with CNN on Tuesday, explaining, “Many Americans have rightly connected the dots between the Iran War and the painfully high cost of living and thus want the war to end.”
By Zandi’s calculations, the war has cost U.S. consumers about $265 billion, totaling about $2,000 per household. Slightly over half of that $2,000 is from higher energy prices, including gasoline and home heating bills, according to Zandi.
But that’s just the tally for the war so far. The war was launched on Feb. 28, when President Trump insisted that it might last 4-6 weeks. Obviously we’re coming up on eight months of conflict at the end of this month and there’s no end in sight.
In fact, there’s probably a lot more financial pain ahead. 18 commercial ships have been hit by Iran in the Strait of Hormuz so far this month. And Reuters reported Tuesday that the headquarters of Saudi Arabia’s oil company Aramco was struck today. It’s unclear at this point if the building was a direct hit by a missile or shrapnel from a missile interception. Saudi Arabia has been the target of the Houthi rebel group in Yemen, which is aligned with Iran.
At least 16 people were killed over the weekend at Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport and hundreds more were wounded, according to Bloomberg. The airport will remained closed until at least Oct. 17. President Trump whined about the Houthis in a post on Truth Social Tuesday, writing that they were “purposefully trying to drive up Oil Prices, probably prior to the U.S. Elections — NOT NICE.”
There’s no doubt that the Houthis are helping drive up oil prices by bombing targets in Saudi Arabia, but not everything happening in the world is necessarily tied to the U.S. elections. The Houthis have been targeting Saudi Arabia for years and President Joe Biden hit Houthi sites in Yemen several times in 2024, long before the start of Trump’s second term or his disastrous war in Iran.
The national average for a gallon of gas in the U.S. currently sits at $4.34, according to AAA, with diesel prices averaging $6.27. A year ago, the average for gas was $3.08 and diesel was $3.65.
The average price for a domestic airline ticket last week was $386, according to Kayak. The price a year ago was $306. The average cost for an international ticket is $1,038, while a year ago it was $820.