Low U.S. gasoline prices are the top priority of the Administration amid the war in Iran, Vice President JD Vance said, as the U.S.-Iran deadlock persists and the U.S. vowed to keep the blockade on Iran indefinitely.
“I know that oil is down today and it’s way down from the highs in the early days of the conflict,” Vance said on Fox News late on Thursday.
“That’s goal number one — keep oil and gas cheap for Americans all over our country,” said the vice president as Americans are paying the highest gasoline prices this late in any year.
“And then obviously goal number two is ensure that Iran never gets a nuclear weapon,” Vance added, in an apparent contradiction to the U.S. top goal stated early in the war that Tehran must never obtain a nuclear weapon.
Vance’s words came hours ahead of the U.S. vowing to ratchet up economic pressure on Iran and saying it could keep the naval blockade of Iranian oil exports “indefinitely”.
Oil prices were headed early on Friday for a 4% weekly gain as the United States and Iran indicated they are no closer to a peace deal than they were at the start of the war.
Meanwhile, the U.S. national average price of gasoline remained above $4 per gallon this week.
“While gasoline demand is down, crude oil prices are keeping pump prices higher than normal for this time of year,” AAA said on Thursday.
“So far, this is the highest August on record when it comes to the national gasoline average.”
This means that Americans have never paid so much for gasoline this late in the year.
“Going back to 2008, the cheapest national average price of gasoline on this calendar day- Aug. 13- was $2.13/gal in 2016, and the most expensive is today, at $4.06/gal,” Patrick de Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, said on Thursday.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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