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PTI
Washington, Updated At : 08:48 AM Apr 05, 2026 IST
The war with Iran is beginning to affect Americans directly: Amazon will add a fuel surcharge for e-commerce deliveries and some airlines have raised checked-baggage fees to offset higher jet fuel costs.
The average price of petrol in the US rose to USD 4.09 a gallon on Friday, more than a dollar higher than just before the conflict and the highest level since August 2022, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA). Diesel has jumped from USD 3.64 per gallon a year ago to USD 5.53 per gallon on Friday; diesel powers farming, construction, trucking and other industries.
Amazon said it will add a 3.5 per cent fuel surcharge on third-party sellers beginning April 17. The US Postal Service is seeking approval for a temporary 8 per cent fuel surcharge on package and express mail deliveries to cope with rising transportation costs; if approved by the Postal Regulatory Commission it would begin April 26 and remain until January 17, 2027.
If the conflict endures, analysts warn, broader supply-chain disruptions and higher transport costs will push up consumer prices. “I don’t think the US will avoid it. These are global markets,” said Rachel Ziemba, a New York-based geopolitical-risk analyst, quoted by The Washington Post. “Experts, even a week ago, were worried. Now they are more worried.”
Austan Goolsbee, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, told CBS that rising transportation costs will bleed through to other prices, taking a near-term but not necessarily immediate toll on consumers already concerned about affordability.
Blocking the Strait of Hormuz has already removed hundreds of millions of barrels of oil from global markets, with impacts arriving progressively according to shipping times from the Persian Gulf, JPMorgan commodities specialists said in a client note quoted by The Washington Post. Asia has been hit first, with some governments imposing rationing and conservation measures. Europe could face physical shortages by mid-April as the last pre-conflict shipments arrive. With shipments taking 35 to 45 days to reach US ports from the Strait, the United States is likely to feel effects last. JPMorgan said price rises are expected, while refined-product shortages from late April or May will probably be largely confined to California, which is physically isolated from the national fuel distribution system.
