Amid shifting global energy markets following months of heightened volatility tied to the Iran conflict, former U.S. President Donald Trump has publicly announced he has directed the Department of Justice to launch an immediate investigation into major domestic energy companies, accusing the firms of exploiting consumers by failing to pass falling crude oil costs onto drivers at the gas pump.
In a social media post that has drawn new attention to post-conflict energy pricing, Trump argued that gasoline prices have not declined nearly as quickly as he expected, even as global crude costs have pulled back sharply from their recent peaks. “The big Oil Companies are not dropping their price at the pump commensurate with the sharply lower prices they are paying for Oil,” Trump wrote in the post. “Those prices are dropping like a rock! In other words, customers are being ‘gouged.’”
Trump did not name any specific oil and gas companies in his announcement, and as of press time, neither the Department of Justice nor the White House has issued an official response to requests for comment from the BBC.
The current pricing tension traces back to late February, when a joint strike by the U.S. and Israel against Iran triggered widespread disruption to global energy supplies. In response to the attack, Tehran closed the Strait of Hormuz, the strategic chokepoint through which roughly a fifth of the world’s daily oil shipments pass. The closure sent global energy markets into chaos, pushing the international Brent crude benchmark to a near-$120 per barrel high in May, up from a pre-conflict level of around $70 per barrel.
In recent weeks, as diplomatic peace talks have made incremental progress, global crude prices have retreated significantly, falling to roughly $76 per barrel as of the latest reporting. While that marks a major drop from the May peak, the benchmark remains above pre-conflict levels. The same trend has played out for U.S. consumers: average regular gasoline prices have fallen from April’s peak above $4 per gallon to roughly $3.90 per gallon, but still remain far higher than they were before the Iran conflict began.