Fox host Jesse Watters with a chyron stating: "U.S. oil market booms during war"

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As gas prices go up from the Iran war, Fox News celebrates the “biggest payday in history” for oil companies

The closure of the Strait of Hormuz is straining the American and global economies

Written by Zachary Pleat

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Fox News is embracing the continued closure of the Strait of Hormuz due to President Donald Trump’s war against Iran as an economic boon for U.S. petroleum exports — even though the closure will further increase American gasoline prices. Fox has already tried to downplay the increasing fuel prices that have resulted from the closure, which is currently straining both the U.S. and global economies in numerous ways, including threatening famine and global recession.

Fox’s embrace of Trump’s disastrous war echoes how the network previously supported the president’s illegal tariffs scheme — with full-throated backing of the policy and claims that it would help the U.S. economy, even though in reality the tariffs resulted in further job losses for the industries they were intended to support, higher inflation, weaker economic growth, and, ultimately, effectively zero revenue due to court-mandated refunds.

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  • Fox celebrates the Strait of Hormuz closure and blockade of Iranian ports for accelerating U.S. petroleum exports

    • Fox host Sean Hannity: “America is now benefitting financially because of the blockade” on Iranian ports. Hannity continued: “The price of natural gas is way up overseas, all while the price of American natural gas has actually gone down, making America's natural gas more competitive, more desirable than ever.” Fox Business reporter Lauren Simonetti joined, bragging, “We are going to export more natural gas than ever before, with 60% of our gas supplying Europe this year.” Simonetti concluded: “In the meantime, as you note, the U.S. is strengthening its hand as an energy superpower. We are the gas station for the world. U.S. oil production now tops a record 13 million barrels per day, and we’re swimming in natural gas.” Four days later on his radio show, Hannity said: “It's in America's, frankly, unique interest if the strait was closed,” stating that it's “actually a net plus for the U.S.” because the world now has to “come to America for all of their energy needs as we are a net exporter.” [Fox News, Hannity, 4/16/26; Premiere Radio Networks, The Sean Hannity Show, 4/20/26]
    • Fox Business host Larry Kudlow: The Iran war is causing “a re-ordering of the world’s energy story … because the United States is the reliable energy supplier, oil, gas.” Kudlow continued: “No more Hormuz, no more Iran, no more political uncertainty and blackmail. We are doing it.” [Fox Business, Kudlow, 4/16/26]
    • Fox Business anchor David Asman: “What is the energy capital of the world right now? It’s the United States of America.” Asman added: “The IEA, which is a big energy information service, reported that we now export 12.7 million barrels per day. It’s huge. We are the capital of the world for energy.” [Fox News, The Story, 4/16/26]
    • Fox host Jesse Watters: “The U.S. oil market is open for business, and it is booming. Big Oil just had its biggest payday in history.” Watters continued: “The United States just hit an all-time high — all week, exporting 5 million barrels a day. Over 100 tankers are lining up off the Gulf of America to get their frantic little hands on our sweet, sweet crude. And it’s not just crude. We’re shipping everything from gas, jet fuel, diesel at record levels. [Fox News, Jesse Watters Primetime, 4/15/26]
    • Asman on Trump’s Iran war: “We are now the energy capital of the world. That has been a good thing that's come out of this.” Asman said: “Once we get through this spike in oil — which by the way, the U.S. has now become the energy capital of the world. Today we just got news from the EIA [Energy Information Administration], which is a big energy information source, that exports of U.S. oil and refined goods is now up to 12.7 million barrels per day. That is the highest in record. We have blown past all of those previous records in terms of exporting more oil to the rest of the world.” [Fox News, America Reports, 4/15/26]
    • Fox Business host Elizabeth MacDonald said, “A growing armada of more than 175 empty or near-empty crude oil tankers, plus 28 supertankers — that's five times the usual — have started pouring into the U.S. Gulf of America to buy and pick up U.S. crude oil for nations in Europe and Asia.” Fox contributor Jason Chaffetz added: “This is really good for American energy production.” [Fox Business, The Evening Edit, 4/14/26]
    • Fox & Friends co-host Ainsley Earhardt on Trump’s Iran blockade: “100 oil supertankers are now redirecting to the Gulf of America to fill up their ships in Texas now.” Co-host Brian Kilmeade added that it “looks like” the blockade “as a tactical move, is a masterstroke.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 4/14/26]
    • Hannity: “As we speak, more than 100 oil supertankers, they have been redirected over to the Gulf of America, where they will be filling up in Texas with Texas crude.” [Fox News, Hannity, 4/13/26]
    • Watters: “Now, the Iranian oil blockade is probably the knockout punch. … The world’s turning to us for energy.” Watters continued: “Over 120 empty oil tankers are on their way to the Gulf of America.” [Fox News, Jesse Watters Primetime, 4/13/26]
    • MacDonald repeatedly emphasized that more than 100 empty oil tankers were headed to the U.S. with the Strait of Hormuz closed. During the segment, multiple on-screen graphics emphasized the approach of the tankers and stated: “Ongoing Hormuz closure to boost U.S. oil demand” and “Rpts: U.S. LNG exports hit record levels in March.” [Fox Business, The Evening Edit, 4/13/26]

  • But these actions have massively damaged the U.S. and global economies

  • Gas price spikes have cost Americans billions

    • GasBuddy head of petroleum analysis Patrick De Haan: “Americans have collectively spent ~$17.6 billion dollars more on gasoline than they did on March 1, roughly $15 billion more, in my estimation, due to the US attacks on Iran.” [Bluesky, 4/21/26]
    • Moody’s Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi: “The economic damage from the war with Iran is mounting. Just the surge in gasoline prices has cost Americans an estimated additional $21.3 billion since the start of the war over 6 weeks ago.” In another post, Zandi added: “The financial pain caused by the war and its fallout on consumer spending and the economy is set to intensify.” [Bluesky, 4/19/26, 4/19/26]
    • Reuters: “What the Trump tax breaks giveth, the gasoline pump taketh away.” Reuters reported that increased prices at the gasoline pump are “eat[ing] most of the larger tax refunds that people are seeing from new tax breaks on tips, Social Security retirement payments, overtime pay, car loan interest and state and local tax bills that were part of last year's Republican-backed tax-cut legislation.” Reuters further reported: “Economists at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research estimate that war-driven price spikes have ​pushed up Americans' average annual gasoline costs for this year by $857.” Reuters reported that multiple independent estimates of tax refund increases are higher than the roughly $350 average reported so far, ranging from $560 to $646, but the projected increase in Americans’ gasoline costs alone exceeds all but the Trump administration’s own comparably generous estimate of $1,000 in increased tax savings. [Reuters, 4/10/26]

    The war could cost the U.S. $1 trillion or more and tip the world into recession

    • Harvard Kennedy School professor Linda J. Blimes: “I am certain we will spend one trillion dollars for the Iran war. Perhaps we have already racked up that amount.” In an interview, Blimes cited precedent from previous wars, interest costs on money borrowed for war spending, and veteran’s benefits, plus costs to rebuild damaged and destroyed bases and the cost of restocking spent munitions. [Harvard Kennedy School, 4/7/26]
    • The Century Foundation: “The Iran war’s forever costs will far exceed the immediate pain for consumers.” Regarding the costs of war in government spending, a Century Foundation column explained: “War imposes specific long-term costs on the government that far surpass the costs of military operations that are (at least in theory) tallied by the Pentagon and shared with Congress.” It continued: “The Brown University Cost of War project has produced the definitive estimates of the costs of the Global War on Terror, with a special focus on the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, and has come up with a total bill of $8 trillion. Just over a quarter of that figure is money directly spent on military operations. But a bigger portion is the cost of long-term care for veterans.” The column added: “Costs like long-term veteran care and debt servicing are almost certainly not factored into the $200 billion that the Department of Defense is reportedly requesting for the Iran war.” [The Century Foundation, 4/1/26]
    • Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman: “In my view, a full-on global recession is more likely than not if the Strait remains closed for, say, another three months, which seems all too possible.” [Substack, 4/20/26]
    • CNN: “The IMF [International Monetary Fund] now expects global growth of 3.1% in 2026, a 0.2 percentage point downgrade from its January forecast. … Global inflation is also seen rising to 4.4% this year.” CNN explained that the IMF “also outlined two scenarios for a longer-lasting conflict,” highlighting the risk of global recession if fossil fuel prices remain highly elevated into next year. [CNN, 4/15/26]

    The Strait of Hormuz closure threatens global fertilizer supplies during planting season, risking increased hunger

    • Most American farmers said they can’t afford enough fertilizer. The American Prospect reported that “70 percent of farmers across the country said in an American Farm Bureau Federation survey that they wouldn’t be able to afford all the fertilizer they need for this year’s crops.” The Prospect explained that “up to a third of the global supply passes through the Strait of Hormuz, which has been mostly closed since the end of February.” [The American Prospect, 4/21/26]
    • World Central Kitchen founder José Andrés: “I foresee a very big increase in famine across the world by the fall of 2026 and 2027” because of the collapse of the fertilizer trade due to the Iran war. From the Guardian: “The danger, he explained, was the delay. When fertilizers don’t arrive in time for key planting windows, yields can fall in the following harvest cycle. Disruptions in global trade can ripple into higher prices and lower output, hitting the poorest countries hardest.” [The Guardian, 4/16/26]
    • Center for American Progress: “Trump’s war of choice with Iran threatens a global hunger and health crisis.” CAP explained that the strait “has long been viewed as the world’s most critical energy corridor, but its role as a lifeline for food production is equally consequential. Beyond oil, the strait carries roughly 20 to 30 percent of global fertilizer exports, including ammonia, urea, and other inputs essential for agricultural production. Because nearly half of global food production depends on synthetic nitrogen fertilizer, sustained disruption threatens food supply and could drive up grocery costs for consumers around the world.” CAP’s article added: “Across sub-Saharan Africa and India, farmers entering planting season face the prospect of reduced or unavailable fertilizer, threatening crop yields and increasing the likelihood of prolonged food shortages. David Miliband, head of the International Rescue Committee, called this disruption a ‘food security timebomb.’” [Center for American Progress, 4/22/26]