In case your credit card statement hadn't already made it clear, new federal data confirmed it on Wednesday: Inflation is back.
More than 2 million barrels of oil are transiting through the Strait of Hormuz every day despite the passageway's closure due to the war in Iran, experts said.
The Iran war and Trump's tariffs are pushing prices higher, and neither will be easy to undo.
President Donald Trump's claim that he loves the inflation associated with his war in Iran is bad news for the average American's pocketbook, an economist said during a new CNN interview on Wednesday. Henrietta Treyz, an economist at Veda Partners, told CNN's Boris Sanchez that there's "nothing to like" about the 4.2% inflation reading that was captured in the latest economic data released on Wednesday. That's despite Trump saying in the Oval Office that he "loves the numbers" and that inflation will "drop like a rock" once the war in Iran ends. "The best I can say is that inflation everywhere else didn't also rise more than expected. That is not good news," Treyz said. "We're on day 104 of the war, if I'm not mistaken. We've spent $100 billion, and a lot of that is being borne by regular Americans." Trump's war in Iran has sent global energy prices skyrocketing because of the impacts to the Strait of Hormuz, a global waterway that accounts for 20% of all energy trade. The rising cost of energy has also driven up the prices of many goods, especially gasoline and groceries. Treyz noted that the average American household is paying about $460 more per year for gas now than it did when the war began. "It doesn't include the groceries that are more expensive. The surcharges on all your Amazon shipments, the additional 8% cost of just shipping mail around the country. This is a massive blow," she said. "And 4.2% inflation means that inflation is moving faster than our wages are keeping up. That's the problem for the president with this war."
President Donald Trump said he loves inflation.A new report released Wednesday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics found that America’s annual inflation rate had reached its highest levels in three years. Later, in the Oval Office, a reporter asked Trump whether the new inflation numbers concerned him. The president presented his own pathetic spin. “No, I love it. The numbers were great. You know what I really love? I love the inflation,” Trump said. Sorry, what?Reporter: Are you concerned, Mr. President, about the latest inflation number which came out this morning?Trump: No, I love it. I love the inflation. pic.twitter.com/vktX6C9lbk— Acyn (@Acyn) June 10, 2026As Americans are struggling to afford gas, food, electricity, and medical care, Trump suggested that the high prices would be good for “after the war.” “You know, we’ve been taking out millions of barrels of oil. Nobody knows it. You know who doesn’t know about it? Iran until right now,” Trump said. “We took out, the other night, 22 ships, late at night with no lights because they don’t have any radar because we blasted the crap out of it.”Trump indicated that clandestine oil flows were why crude prices were below $100 per barrel. But if that was ever really a secret, Iran certainly knew about it—because Trump had posted about it earlier in the day.Trump has made it clear he cares more about oil companies than average Americans, who aren’t likely to buy the president’s sudden pivot after he’s spent the last few years railing against inflation.
On Wednesday, it was announced that inflation has accelerated for the third straight month, exploding to 4.2 percent annually, nearly double the annual increase before President Donald Trump launched war with Iran. The fastest increase pace since 2023, rising energy prices were the main reason for the growth. That’s already bad news, but according to several leading economists, the situation is going to get worse as “the inflation genie is out of the bottle.”“So far, over the first five months of 2026, the CPI is up 2.52 percent,” posted Europac Chief Economist Peter Schiff. “If this pace continues for all of 2026, the CPI will rise 6.2 percent, the most since 2022. But I think the second half of the year will see a much bigger rise, sending the full year above 7 percent, the highest rate since 1981.”Schiff was referring to the 1981 recession that was driven by stagflation. The most severe recession between WWII and the 2008 crisis, it resulted in a global economic catastrophe that was felt for years. And Schiff is far from the only economist to express concerns that the problem is just beginning. “On a three-month annualized basis inflation is up 8.2 percent and is up 5.6 percent on a 6-month annualized pace,” noted Wall Street Journal economic forecast panelist Joseph Brusuelas. In other words, the numbers show that the bulk of the inflationary increase came over the past three months, resulting in energy prices rising by 23.5 percent, energy commodities by 40.6 percent, and gasoline prices by 40.6 percent over the course of one year. “That is probably the best summation of a war-induced supply shock, a rising price level and why we think that we have not yet experienced a complete passing through of the price shock downstream.”That means that the war is not only causing inflation but that its “downstream” effects are yet to be felt. Translation: things are going to get worse. And that’s not all. “Inflation is so high that it's erasing all wage gains,” Navy Federal Chief Economist Heather Long pointed out. “Inflation: 4.2 percent in May for the past year. Wage growth: 3.4 percent in May for the past year. Americans are getting squeezed financially. This isn't just ‘bad vibes’ about the economy. There is real pain, especially for middle-class and lower-income households. It's tough because so many basic items are seeing sizable price increases: gas, electricity, food, medical care.”Mike Koncal, Senior Director of Policy and Research at the Economic Security Project, seconded Long’s assessment, posting, “And with this bruiser of an inflation report, there's been no real wage gains for all employees under President Trump. It's zero. For production and nonsupervisory workers, wages are back down to February 2025 levels, with the Iran War erasing around 15 months of previous gains.”While the Trump administration spent Wednesday morning trying to avoid responsibility for the rising crisis, experts aren’t having it.“Generally, presidents get too much credit or too much blame for macroeconomic movement,” explained Matt Bennett, co-founder of the moderate think tank Third Way. “But in this case, the cause is blindingly obvious: the idiot in the gold-plated wreck of a White House started a stupid war and imposed stupid tariffs.”
President Donald Trump declared his “love” for inflation on Wednesday, after the United States Consumer Price Index inflation rose to 4.2%. “No, I love it, the numbers were great. You know what I really love? I love the inflation,” Trump said during an Oval Office signing ceremony for the Secure America Act. The U.S. Bureau […]
'We took out the other night 22 ships, late at night with no lights 'cause they don't have any radar 'cause we blasted the crap out of it'
The U.S. annual inflation rate is the highest it’s been in three years—a clear consequence of President Trump’s widely unpopular, very expensive war on Iran, which drags on even as he constantly claims that he’s close to a deal.The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Wednesday that the consumer price index rose 0.5 percent last month, with energy costs accounting for 60 percent of that increase. The annual inflation rate is at 4.2 percent—the highest since April 2023.“Americans are getting squeezed financially by inflation that’s back at a three-year high,” Navy Federal Credit Union chief economist Heather Long told CNBC. “The frustration for many Americans is that so many of the basics are up in price right now—gas, food, electricity, and medical care are all clear pain points that are above 3 percent inflation. Ending the war in Iran will help to moderate inflation, but the worst is likely still to come for rising food prices.”Trump, for his part, has claimed that Iran will “pay the price” for not making a deal. But it’s clear at this point that Iran is willing to draw this conflict out so that American’s pockets hurt more and more every day. It’ll be a difficult sell to midterm voters with inflation at a three-year high and a cost-of-living crisis that was already dire—two issues Trump ran on solving. And it’s entirely his fault.CNN: INFLATION TOPS 4% FOR FIRST TIME IN THREE YEARS AS OIL PRICES JUMP pic.twitter.com/icTIIyDLJq— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 10, 2026