After a preliminary agreement between Iran and the United States failed to end hostilities and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, President Donald Trump’s war in Iran continues into its sixth month. As the war grinds on, there is no end in sight to the high energy and gasoline prices plaguing American families.
While Trump’s war is driving up costs for consumers, oil and gas companies have been making enormous profits at the expense of everyday Americans and their families. The average U.S. household has already paid an additional $610 in gasoline and diesel costs since the start of the war in Iran. Meanwhile, five of the top American and international oil producers alone have brought in a whopping $65.5 billion in profits in the first half of 2026—65 percent higher than in the same period in 2025. All five companies more than doubled their second-quarter profits compared with last year, including Chevron, which nearly quadrupled profits.
These profits are not just a coincidence—enriching the industry is a key part of Trump’s agenda. While running for office, Trump accepted millions of dollars in campaign donations from the oil and gas industry. And since taking office, the Trump administration has given the industry numerous handouts. As this war of choice continues, it has become increasingly apparent that Trump may see the industry’s profits as a mark of his own success. In his own words, “The United States is the largest Oil Producer in the World, by far, so when oil prices go up, we make a lot of money.” Even when expressing concern about retail fuel prices, Trump has claimed credit for the industry’s good fortunes.
Profiting off Trump’s war
Oil and gas companies seem to be profiting hand over fist from Trump’s war with Iran. As international supply is disrupted by the war, American producers and refiners are operating at peak levels. Although the global price of oil, which sets the price at which even domestic fuel is sold, has risen substantially since the war began, the costs of domestic fuel production have largely remained unchanged. This has allowed companies to reap extraordinary windfall profits while Americans pay more than $4 per gallon, on average, at the pump.
These profits are coming out of Americans’ pockets. As of August 6, 2026, Americans have paid nearly $80 billion in additional gasoline and diesel costs since the Iran war started. That is an additional $610 for the average U.S. household. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy estimates that by the end of 2026, Americans will have paid $140 billion in additional fuel costs, which is more than $1,000 per household. This additional financial burden comes as Americans are paying thousands more due to the administration’s tariffs and as other policies championed by the Trump administration and its allies are driving up costs for health insurance and utilities.
This is hardly the first time that a war has benefited oil companies while causing pain at the pump for Americans: In 2022, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine led to record profits and crisis-level energy prices. But unlike in 2022, the war against Iran—which has been both disastrous and unlawful—was a war of choice by the Trump administration.
The war is another in a long list of boons the Trump administration has given oil companies
These massive oil company profits are just another example of the Trump administration’s corrupt policies and history of handouts to the oil industry at the expense of taxpayers. In April 2024, while running for president, Trump made what The Washington Post called a “blunt and transactional pitch” to a group of oil industry executives at a fundraising dinner, promising to overturn environmental policies and lower taxes if they donated money to return him to the White House. Since entering office, he has followed through on that promise.
In addition to the Trump administration’s actions in Iran, its signature piece of legislation—the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA)—included dozens of policies that increased handouts and sold out national public lands to benefit oil and gas companies. The same legislation made electric vehicles and other gasoline-reducing technologies more expensive, which was projected to increase gasoline consumption by up to 11 percent by 2035 and to drive up prices at the pump by up to 3 percent. Furthermore, the Trump administration gutted federal vehicle emission standards that would have saved consumers an average $58 billion per year on gasoline. The repeal of these programs has left Americans more vulnerable to price spikes and gasoline dependency.
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Furthermore, the major oil companies paid very little in federal corporate income taxes in 2025, primarily as a result of tax breaks in the OBBBA, which erased much of their tax liabilities that year. A recent analysis found that several oil and gas companies—including Cheniere Energy, Venture Global, and EQT—reported paying zero federal corporate income tax in 2025. Among them is Liberty Energy, an oil field services company founded by U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, which received more than $10 million in tax benefits. Another analysis found that three of the largest U.S. oil companies—Chevron, ConocoPhillips, and Exxon—were expected to pay an average tax rate of only 6.1 percent on their domestic income in 2025, less than one-third of the statutory 21 percent corporate tax rate.
Conclusion
The Trump campaign benefited from millions of dollars in political spending from the oil and gas industry in 2024. Now in office, the Trump administration’s actions are making Americans poorer by causing them to pay more to that same industry, which is raking in billions in additional profits.
Reforms have long been needed to stop companies from profiting off crises and return money to stressed American consumers, which is why the Center for American Progress has proposed policies to tax windfall profits, weed out waste, fraud, and abuse in the federal oil and gas program, and peel back the distortionary subsidies that the oil and gas industry has lobbied to create.
But the first step in bringing energy prices down for American consumers is to stop the Trump administration’s reckless and unnecessary war in Iran.
The authors would like to thank Shannon Baker-Branstetter, Lucero Marquez, Trevor Higgins, Mona Alsaidi, Fiona Fitzpatrick, Emily Gee, Allison McManus, Corey Husak, Bill Rapp, and Christian Rodriguez for their contributions to this column.