In a time of war with Iran, Americans unite in aggravation over sticker shock at the gas pump

DE SOTO, Iowa — Standing alongside his son's Ford pickup truck at a central Iowa gas station off Interstate 80, Francisco Castillo was not happy.

He voted for President Donald Trump in the last election. He believed Trump strengthened the economy in his first term, and he wanted more of that.

"I thought that he was going to bring some of those things back," said Castillo, 43. And now? "He said he was going to bring gas down, but the war in Iran is now making everything worse."

It seems a country divided on so many fronts is finding common ground in pain at the pump, where the cost of the Iran war is hitting Americans squarely in the wallet and aggravating people across the political spectrum.

For Castillo and many others filling their tanks across the country on Monday, it was a reminder that politicians' promises aren't going to pay the bills.

"They do what benefits them," Castillo said. "I have to go to work every day no matter what."

The national average gas price was $3.48 a gallon on Monday, up from $2.90 a month ago, before the war, according to tracking by AAA.

Trump insisted the conflict was worth it.

"We're putting an end to all of this threat once and for all, and the result will be lower oil prices, oil and gas prices for American families," he said at a news conference Monday.

While visiting Ohio on Wednesday, Trump told Cincinnati television station WKRC that he will tap the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve to try to curtail rising gas prices. He didn’t specify how many barrels of oil the U.S. would release.

Robert Coon from Omaha, Nebraska, filled up on his way to Ames, Iowa. Though not a Trump voter, he believed the strikes in Iran needed to happen. Even so, he fears U.S. involvement is not going be "in, out, over."

A Quinnipiac poll found about half of registered voters oppose the U.S. military action against Iran while about 4 in 10 support it. The vast majority of Democrats were against it (89%), the vast majority of Republicans for it (85%) and independents against it (60%).

Overall, three-quarters were concerned about the war raising gas and oil prices.

For now, surging prices aren't keeping Ray Albrecht, a 67-year-old independent voter, from hauling his camper on his pickup truck.

However, he said he would stop traveling if the price reached $5 a gallon, since he only gets 8 miles per gallon with his truck and camper. He stopped at a Speedway gas station off Interstate 4 in Winter Park, Florida, paying $3.59 per gallon for half a tank to keep him rolling toward his home in Wisconsin.

At the same gas station, Republican-leaning Tyler Nepple, 23, from the Orlando area, said the price of gas for his Toyota Tacoma may shape his vote in the midterm elections this fall but won't change his driving habits.

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"You've just got to fill it up and bite the bullet and hope that the prices go back down — that's all I can really do," Nepple said. "I still have to get from point A to point B, and I need gas to do that."

In Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania, Vivian Knight, 53, who's on disability, hopes her fill-up last week will last her a month. "If I had to go to work or something like that, gas prices would be ridiculous," she said.

Speaking of Trump, she said "he kind of starts some problems that really don't need to be started," and she puts the Iran war in that category.

The saga will have no effect on how Joey Perillo,a 74-year-old political independent from Yardley, Pennsylvania, will vote in November. "The gas price could have gone down to 2 cents a gallon and I'd vote against him," he said.

In the Detroit suburb of Livonia, Anthony Gooden, 57, sized up the plight of gas-powered vehicle owners while waiting for his Chevy Equinox EV to charge at a station.

"Whoa, they're going through it right now," said Gooden, 57, from nearby Redford Township. "And it's only getting worse."

Gooden ditched his internal combustion engine vehicle over a year ago and said days like these reinforce that decision. 

In Ann Arbor, Michigan, Elvana Hammoud, 55, drives a Mach-E electric SUV as well as a Ford Raptor truck that costs $100 to fill up when gas is over $3. It's an easy choice which to use more now.

"I mostly drive the EV, especially to work because I have a long commute," she said. The Raptor is for snowy days, short errands or when moving something big.

Trump put up a number of roadblocks to rapid expansion of electric vehicles in favor of policies promoting gasoline-powered ones. Among them, his tax and spending bill passed by Congress last year eliminated federal tax credits that saved buyers up to $7,500 off new and used EV purchases.

Ken Shuttlesworth, 70, of Graham, North Carolina, who described himself as an independent Democrat, said he can absorb higher gas costs but worries about those who live closer to the financial margins. At a Shell station in Graham, unleaded started at $3.34 per gallon, up from $2.59 last week.

Trump, he said, should have consulted Congress and had a more public discussion before taking the country to war.

"We have somebody who doesn't follow the policy," he said. "He follows his instincts."

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Fingerhut reported from Iowa, Householder from Michigan, Schneider from Florida, Catalini from Pennsylvania and Barrow from Georgia. Associated Press writers Calvin Woodward and Linley Sanders contributed.

Photos show global reaction to US and Israeli strikes