As the United States’ and Israel’s war with Iran continues through its third week, people in Tucson are feeling its effects at one place in particular: the gas pump.
“Hurt my bank account a little bit,” said Matt Araneta after filling up at a Chevron gas station at Tucson Boulevard and Grant Road on Tuesday.
According to the American Automobile Association, or AAA, the average gallon of regular gas in Arizona cost $4.395 on Wednesday, up almost 40% from a month earlier, before the war began.
Gas prices surged around the world after Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, a key passageway that saw 34% of the world’s crude oil traffic in 2025, according to the World Economic Forum. The closure came after the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28, sparking a war that has killed over 1,400 Iranians, Al Jazeera reported, and 13 American soldiers. American and Israeli strikes have killed several Iranian political leaders, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who had ruled Iran for over 35 years in an often-brutal dictatorship.
Local drivers who spoke with AZPM expressed a range of views about the war, from criticizing President Donald Trump for causing global instability to calling rising gas prices a worthwhile sacrifice for taking out Iranian leadership.
“If it’s going to go up twenty cents so we can get those goddamn (expletive) out of Iran, it’s worth it,” said 66-year-old James Hazen at a Circle K gas station near Interstate 10 in downtown Tucson.
“I don’t think four dollars a gallon is crazy,” he said.
A few pumps over, Neil Martinez expressed displeasure about gas prices.
“We’re just going to have to roll with the punches, like everything else,” he said.
Martinez said the cause of higher oil prices was “clear to see.”
“We need to start being like the rest of these countries, manning together, getting together to rebel against this. Because at the end of the day, we’re fighting the rich kids’ wars,” he said.
At the Chevron gas station, Araneta had just driven to Tucson from Tempe with Matthew Pearce. Both Arizona State University students said they were not casting blame for the spike in prices.
“It’s just the grand scheme of politics,” Pearce said.
Both students grew up in California, they said. Araneta said his family had relocated to Arizona due to the state’s lower cost of living, one that the spike in oil prices put into question.
“Fifty bucks for a tank of gas in Arizona is a little ridiculous,” he said.
Pearce said he thought the volatility of gas prices was a bigger challenge than the increase itself.
“It’s hard for families to prepare for stuff like that,” he said.
Arizona’s two Democratic Senators, Ruben Gallego and Mark Kelly, have both cited high gas prices when criticizing the war with Iran.
“Trump promised to bring down costs. Instead, we’re spending billions on a war overseas and back home families are paying the price at the pump,” Gallego wrote on social media this week.
“I don’t see how this war helps Americans afford rent, groceries, health care, or gas. What I do see is spiking gas prices. I’m proposing to suspend the federal gas tax to help, but what we really need is an Administration focused on lowering costs instead of starting wars,” Kelly wrote on social media this week.
On Wednesday, the Trump administration lifted a domestic trade restriction that it argued would ease the spike in gas prices, a claim disputed by a former trade official who served under Trump, NPR reported.
