WASHINGTON DC — U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright said Sunday that gasoline prices have likely peaked and will begin declining as the war in Iran comes to a close. He said the downward trend should unfold over the coming weeks, though a return to prices below $3 a gallon could take longer.

"Prices have likely peaked and they will start going down," Wright said. He said pump prices peaked about a week earlier, during what he described as the largest interruption in the flow of energy ever, and that a resolution of the conflict would cause prices to go down.

Asked when prices might fall below $3 a gallon, he said the timing remained uncertain, noting that it could happen later this year or might not occur until next year. He added: "Under $3 a gallon is pretty tremendous in an inflation-adjusted terms. We had that in the Trump administration, but we hadn't seen that in inflation-adjusted terms for quite a long time. We will get back there, for sure."

U.S. average gasoline prices stood at $2.98 a gallon in the days before the start of the Iran war, then climbed to $3.98 a gallon in late March and stabilized above $4 a gallon in April. The national average was $4.04, according to the American Automobile Association.

Iran responded to attacks by the United States and Israel by twice closing the Strait of Hormuz, a transit route for a large portion of the world's petroleum and oil supply. Operation Epic Fury began on Feb. 28.

During a September 2024 campaign speech, Donald Trump said, "Energy is going to bring us back." He also said, "That means we're going down and getting gasoline below $2 a gallon, bring down the price of everything from electricity rates to groceries, air fares, and housing costs." An opinion poll of more than 32,000 adults estimated that 67% of respondents somewhat or strongly disapproved of the way Trump was handling the war in Iran, and 68% somewhat or strongly disapproved of his handling of inflation and the cost of living.