President Donald Trump on Monday said that gas and oil prices are continuing to drop quickly after Washington and the Iranian regime signed an interim peace deal.
“Gas prices coming down, fast!” Trump wrote on June 29 on Truth Social, capitalizing every word of the post. “Report any abuses at retail level,” he added, referring to a previous statement of his referring to a Department of Justice probe into gas stations that allegedly engage in price gouging.
In another post, Trump said that the price for a barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil has dropped significantly since it surged during the war with Iran. The post framed the conflict as an attempt to push Iran into giving up its nuclear program, which Trump has long sought.
“WTI CRUDE - $69, and heading down,” he wrote in the social media comment. “This is less than it was prior to the start of the Denuclearization of Iran!”
As of Monday afternoon, the price for a barrel of WTI crude oil increased slightly to around $70, while Brent crude also saw an increase to $73 per barrel.
In the weeks after the U.S. and Israeli militaries launched strikes against Iran that prompted Tehran to try to shut down the strategic Strait of Hormuz waterway, the price for a barrel of WTI crude surpassed $110 and was frequently above $100 throughout the conflict.
The pressure on prices has been felt inside the United States. Regular gasoline prices reached above $4.50 per gallon, on average, in mid-May, according to GasBuddy.
As of June 29, the average price dropped less than 1 cent from the previous day to around $3.86 on average for regular gas, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA). A month ago, it stood at $4.39 per gallon.
Chevron Chief Financial Officer Eimear Bonner last week said that she expects gas prices to continue to decline if tensions in the Middle East ease, stressing that there is usually a delay between oil price reductions and a drop in gas prices for consumers.
“It’s going to take time, though,” Bonner told CNBC on June 25. “There is a lag between, you know, oil prices and reductions in oil prices and when that shows up at the pump, but we expect that prices will come down as things continue to normalize.”
Oil prices have dropped significantly since the United States and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding to end fighting, although there have been public disputes between Tehran and Washington regarding control of the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint through which about a fifth of the world’s traded oil passes.
