Gas prices have risen sharply since the start of the Iran war. Some drivers are using special techniques to maximize their miles per gallon and save at the pump.
Page F2From§Eachthe matinee edition — 7 September 2026
SMALL POTATOES
Trump calls his war small potatoes; drivers pay record price to find out how small.
As it ran on the front
The filing this week reconciles neatly enough if you don't mind what it reconciles to.
Start in August, because that's where the ledger opens: the average price of gasoline in the United States held above four dollars a gallon every day of the month, the first time that's happened, ninety cents more per gallon than a year earlier, according to AAA data reported August 31. That was already the invoice for something. On September 1, the something got clearer: U.S. Central Command said it had targeted "IRGC targets in Iran" near the Strait of Hormuz, and Iran's armed forces said they would retaliate. The President described the same operation as "large and powerful" — his phrase, not Central Command's; the military's own language stayed narrower, more inventory than press release.…
…(cont) The next day, September 2, the President floated renaming the strait after himself. "TRUMP STRAIT," he posted, and added that like America itself it would be "hotter" than ever. The waterway does not have a single owner, a detail that did not make it into the post.
Five days after that, on September 7, the strait acquired a feature the renaming hadn't covered: a top Iranian official said Tehran would impose an exclusion zone, tightening its hold on the same shipping lane. Oil prices moved on the announcement the way prices move on announcements like that. That's the same day gasoline hit $4.15 a gallon nationally, the highest ever recorded for the Labor Day weekend, according to AAA, at the peak travel weekend of the year. That's also the day the New York Times found drivers turning to hypermiling — techniques for stretching every gallon further — because the tank has to answer for the strait.
And that's the day the President called the war over that strait "small potatoes."
Reconcile the filing against the table: $4.08 a gallon on August 31, ninety cents above the year before; $4.15 on September 7, a holiday record; one President, on the same day as the record, pricing the war that produced it at less than a bar tab. The gap between "small potatoes" and $4.15 a gallon is the invoice, and it's itemized, dated, and mailed to whoever fills a tank — not to whoever renames a strait.
“This is the whole racket in one line: you don't get billed for the war, you get billed at the pump, one gallon at a time. Gas hit $4.08 in August, ninety cents higher than the year before, then $4.15 by Labor Day, a new record, while the guy who ordered the strikes calls the fallout small potatoes. Small potatoes for him means a tank of gas he'll never have to pay for himself.”
“Look, "small potatoes" is about scale, not sacrifice — the President's putting the operation in geopolitical context, comparing it to bigger conflicts, not to your grocery bill. And the renaming thing, that's just branding, that's confidence, that's — okay, hearing it back, maybe don't compare a war zone to a naming contest. The gas prices are a global market thing, everybody knows that, it has nothing to do with — did I say nothing? I mean, mostly nothing.”
The receipts
A top Iranian official says Tehran will impose an "exclusion zone" outside the Strait of Hormuz as it seeks to tighten its chokehold on tanker traffic.
President Trump called the Iran conflict "small potatoes" as war escalated between the two countries over the last two weeks. Taurean Small and Tom Hanson report.
The national average price for regular gasoline set a record high for fuel costs on Labor Day, hitting $4.15 per gallon. At $4.15 per gallon, gasoline is the highest it has ever been during the busy holiday weekend, which is one of the most popular weekends to travel all year, according to AAA. Gasoline is […]
· Trump Threatens to Rename Strait of Hormuz for Himself as War Pushes Diesel Prices Toward Record High from the morgue, 2 Sep 2026
· Trump floats renaming Strait of Hormuz after himself from the morgue, 2 Sep 2026
· U.S. strikes targets in Iran near Strait of Hormuz as Iran says it is retaliating from the morgue, 1 Sep 2026
· Trump Hammered Over Iran War That Drove Gas Prices Above $4 Per Gallon Every Day in August for First Time Ever from the morgue, 31 Aug 2026
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front.