Energy Secretary Chris Wright floundered Sunday when cornered on his shifting claims about rising gas prices amid the war with Iran.
Appearing on CNN’s State of the Union, Wright was reminded by host Jake Tapper that just six weeks ago he had predicted prices would drop below $3 a gallon within weeks—not months.
Asked when Americans could realistically expect that now, the former fracking CEO paused with his mouth gaping widely before conceding: “Uh, I don‘t know.”
He then very roughly estimated: “That could happen later this year. That might not happen ‘til next year. But prices have likely peaked and they’ll start going down. Certainly, with a resolution of this conflict, you’ll see prices go down, prices across the board on energy prices will go down.”
When Tapper clarified that, according to Wright, unleaded gas might not reach below $3 per gallon until 2027, the energy secretary argued that current prices were really a bargain.
“Under $3 a gallon is pretty tremendous in inflation adjusted terms. We had that in the Trump administration, but we hadn’t seen that in inflation adjusted terms for quite a long time. We’ll get—we’ll get back there for sure,” he said.
While Wright is dancing between wildly different timeframes for the gas price crisis to end, last month he added to the confusion by incorrectly claiming on X that “the U.S. Navy successfully escorted an oil tanker through the Strait of Hormuz to ensure oil remains flowing to global markets.”
The post, while deleted in a matter of minutes, immediately impacted the markets, with benchmark U.S. crude prices falling by up to 19 percent. An Energy Department spokesperson later blamed a spokesperson for the blunder.
On the ground, however, the situation remains volatile. Iranian forces and naval mines have tightened control over parts of the Strait, a critical chokepoint for global oil supply.
While Trump claims he’s content with the state of the oil industry as a result of his war, real-world domestic impact has seen US gas prices rise to their highest level since 2022, while the country’s inflation rate reached 3.3 percent last month.
