As Oil Hits $100 a Barrel, Heinrich Details How Trump’s War in Iran Will Continue to Harm Working Families

Report outlines how Trump's war in Iran continues to strain the United States' Strategic Petroleum Reserve, threatening to further hike gasoline prices

WASHINGTON - Today, U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, released a report detailing how draining the United States' oil reserves to historic lows as a result of President Trump's ongoing war in Iran - a war that financially benefits him - will cause prices at the pump to continue to rise.

In the report, Heinrich spells out how the historically low U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) endangers critical energy infrastructure, risking the United States' ability to release more oil from the SPR and threatening our energy security. As President Trump's war with Iran continues, a depleted SPR could cause gasoline prices to potentially rise to $6 per gallon according to oil executives, putting a greater financial strain on working families. This report follows the Joint Economic Committee's (JEC) August 2026 report, which found that Trump is financially benefitting from his ongoing war in Iran and has gained $15.5 million from oil and gas stocks.

"Instead of tackling rising energy prices or ending his war in Iran, President Trump is irresponsibly draining our fuel reserves. That's making things worse, not better. And working families could be forced to pay more at the pump as a result," said Heinrich.

The SPR was created in 1975 to mitigate the impacts of global crises on consumers, protecting the economy from severe oil shortages and price surges. It's designed to hold up to 713.5 million barrels of crude oil spread across 60 salt caverns in Texas and Louisiana and is the largest reported government-owned stockpile in the world.

In April 2026, the U.S. - at the direction of President Trump - released 172 million barrels of crude oil from the SPR. The decision to release oil came as Trump's war with Iran caused gas prices to surge from $3 per gallon to over $5 per gallon in some parts of the country. The SPR is now at its lowest level since its inception.

In June 2026, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report warning that the SPR is at risk of failing to safeguard the U.S. from severe petroleum supply disruptions.

Read the spotlight report here.

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