US gasoline prices hit record $4.03 per gallon for Labor Day weekend amid Iran tensions

Americans heading to the beach, the barbecue, or anywhere else this Labor Day weekend will feel it at the pump. The national average gasoline price is projected to hit $4.03 per gallon for the holiday, a record for the occasion and a sharp reminder that seven months of US-Iran military tensions have reshaped the energy landscape. That $4.03 figure is already looking conservative. Data from GasBuddy and AAA put the national average between $4.13 and $4.15 per gallon in early September, well above both the projected record and the previous Labor Day high of $3.83 set back in 2012. How we got here The price spike traces directly to the conflict with Iran, which began with strikes in late February 2026. Fighting has disrupted oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway connecting the Persian Gulf to the open ocean. Roughly one-fifth of the world’s petroleum passes through it on any given day, making it the single most consequential bottleneck in global energy. With that chokepoint under threat, Brent crude has remained stubbornly above $90 per barrel, with recent prices climbing as high as $96. That kind of sustained elevation in the raw material cost gets passed st...