Gas prices hike above $4 after Trump’s speech leading into the Easter holiday weekend

(Gray News/AP) – Gas prices have risen another two cents, pushing the average to over $4 a gallon just ahead of the start of the Easter holiday travel weekend, according to AAA.

There has been an average $1.08 spike in gas prices since March 2, which is the biggest one-month climb besides the time after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 or the sanctions place on Russia after its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Oil prices soared Thursday after President Donald Trump vowed the U.S. will continue to attack Iran and failed to offer a clear timetable for ending the conflict in the Middle East.

Trump said Wednesday in a national address the U.S. will continue to hit Iran “extremely hard over the next two to three weeks.”

Crude oil prices have been the main force behind the sharp swings for stocks globally. Shipping traffic has been severely curtailed in the Strait of Hormuz, where a fifth of the world’s traded oil passes through during peacetime.