Iran US Gas Prices

The war with Iran is doing collateral damage to the world economy. The conflict is driving up energy, grain and fertilizer prices and threatening food shortages in poor countries. It's also destabilizing fragile states such as Pakistan and complicating options for the inflation fighters at central banks like the Federal Reserve. And it's proving to be a new burden for American consumers already fed up with the high cost of living. Much of the pain is being caused by an effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which carries a fifth of the world's oil.

It seems that a country divided on many fronts is finding common ground at the gas pumps. There, the cost of the Iran war is hitting Americans squarely in the wallet and aggravating people across the political spectrum. That was the message from Associated Press interviews Monday with people at gas stations and beyond in five states. The national average gas price was $3.48 a gallon on Monday, up from $2.90 a month ago, before the war, according to tracking by AAA. But in interviews, some owners of electric vehicles expressed renewed gratitude for their vehicle choice as they sit out the sticker shock.