At $4.15 a gallon, American motorists are paying nearly 40% more for regular petrol than they were on 28 February — the day President Donald Trump ordered strikes on Iran. That single data point sits at the heart of the United States' sharpest inflation reading in more than two years. Bureau of Labor Statistics figures released Wednesday showed the Consumer Price Index climbed 4.

2% in May compared with the same month a year earlier, up from 3.8% in April and the third consecutive monthly rise. The dominant driver was energy. Overall energy bills — covering gas, electricity, and fuel — were almost a quarter higher in May than a year earlier, with petrol accounting for the largest share of that increase.

Iran's decision to effectively close the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation for US strikes has removed roughly one-fifth of the world's oil and gas supply from global shipping lanes. Although Trump claimed that US naval operations had already retrieved millions of barrels of Iranian oil, the global benchmark Brent crude remains well above its pre-war level. Beyond energy, the BLS also flagged rising costs in air travel, medical care, recreation, and communications — suggesting that price pressure is broadening across the economy. President Trump, speaking from the White House, was characteristically upbeat.