Price at the Pump: Prices Pull Back From Initial U.S./Iran Shock

It should come as no surprise that the past ten days have been volatile for oil prices, first because of tensions and attacks between Israel and Iran, and over the weekend the United States' attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities. Patrick DeHaan with Gasbuddy.com said oil prices jumped Sunday, by roughly 4%, but gave back many of those gains Monday.

“Iran has talked about potentially closing the Strait of the Hormuz, but I don't know that they have a good way of actually backing that up with something concrete," DeHaan noted. "In addition, closing the Strait of Hormuz would also potentially hurt Iran. So, there's been a lot said, but ultimately, I think the market is very skeptical of Iran's claim that they are going to try to close down the Strait of Hormuz. In addition, Iran just still doesn't have a whole lot of options after the U.S. attacked their nuclear sites.”

While The U.S. Doesn't Buy Iranian Oil, This Will Impact American Consumers

As of Tuesday morning, West Texas Crude was trading lower at $66 per barrel, while Brent Crude was also trading lower at $69 per barrel. DeHaan added while the United States does not receive oil from Iran, that does not mean this new conflict doesn’t have the potential of impacting what you pay at the local station.

"The US is still caught up in a global economy that does require oil from Iran, and it's that global economy that we cannot fence the United States off from what happens in the United States could impact other countries," DeHaan said. "What happens in other countries will impact the United States. Because oil is a global commodity. And so, for example, China, who is the primary beneficiary of Iranian crude oil. If Iran were to stop sending oil to China, if they were to block shipments in the Strait of Hormuz, it wouldn't just impact oil in one country because of how oil is bought and sold globally.”