Interior Secretary Doug Burgum argued on Friday that state policies and taxes, not the ongoing Iran conflict, are the primary driver of high gas prices across the United States. Speaking on Fox News, Burgum blamed Democratic-led states for imposing energy regulations and taxes that have inflated fuel costs for consumers.
“The price of gasoline varies across our whole country largely right now by state policy and state taxes, not by the underlying fundamentals,” Burgum told Fox News’s Aishah Hasnie. He pointed specifically to California, where gas prices reached $5.75 per gallon on Saturday—the highest in the nation and up from $4.65 a year earlier.
Burgum characterized California’s high prices as “self-inflicted,” citing the state’s push toward renewable energy sources, stringent clean energy requirements, and limited refinery capacity. “They are going to have high prices. You can thank Governor Gavin Newsom for that and the state legislature for the policies they put in,” he said. “That has nothing to do with the Strait of Hormuz.”
The Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly 20 to 35 percent of global seaborne oil trade passes, has been effectively closed since early March 2026 due to the Iran conflict. This disruption has created the largest energy shock in modern history, according to the International Monetary Fund. The closure stranded oil and liquefied natural gas exports and sent Brent Crude oil past $120 per barrel.
Gas prices nationwide averaged just over $4 per gallon on Saturday, representing a 30 percent increase from around $3 a gallon a year earlier. The U.S. Energy Information Administration confirmed that California’s high prices stem from multiple state-specific factors: the highest gasoline taxes in the nation, more stringent clean energy requirements, and a limited number of refineries. California’s cap-and-invest program alone adds approximately 24 cents per gallon to gas prices, according to the California Energy Commission.
While Burgum’s focus on state policies reflects a portion of price variation across regions, energy experts have documented that the Iran conflict has driven a significant national price increase. Gas prices rose from under $3 a gallon before the February 28 attack on Iran to their current levels. The World Bank predicted in April 2026 that the conflict would trigger the largest energy price surge since 2022, with a projected 24 percent increase in energy prices for the year.
Trump administration officials have repeatedly sought to downplay the economic impact of the war. Energy Secretary Chris Wright assured Americans in mid-June that traffic through the Strait of Hormuz was “rising very meaningfully,” and President Trump announced on Saturday that a peace deal framework with Iran was near completion. The administration claimed the U.S. military had secretly moved 100 million barrels of crude oil through the waterway.
Sources
- The Hill — Burgum’s Friday statement blaming state policies for gas prices, California’s $5.75 per gallon average, national average just over $4 per gallon, and the 30 percent year-over-year increase.
- U.S. Energy Information Administration — Confirmation of California’s high taxes, stringent clean energy requirements, and limited refineries as factors in state gas prices.
- International Monetary Fund — Documentation of the Strait of Hormuz closure as the largest disruption to the global oil market.
- World Bank — April 2026 prediction of a 24 percent energy price surge due to the Iran conflict.
- Reuters — Strait of Hormuz closure affecting 20 percent of global oil and LNG supply.
