Americans are paying nearly a dollar more per gallon than a year ago while the largest oil companies in the world post record-breaking profits off the Iran conflict — and the man who started the war is now the one complaining about it.
President Trump lashed out at Big Oil on Monday, singling out ExxonMobil and Chevron for hauling in windfall earnings driven by the global energy disruption his own military campaign created. "They're making too much money, okay, based on a shortage," Trump said in the Oval Office. "Chevron, too much money. ExxonMobil, too much money."
The numbers are staggering. ExxonMobil reported $14.5 billion in second-quarter profit — double what it made in the same period last year. Chevron posted its highest-ever quarterly profit of $12.2 billion, a fivefold increase. Gas prices spiked to an average of $4.56 per gallon this spring as oil briefly topped $100 a barrel. The current average sits at $4.09, still far above where it was before the conflict escalated.
Trump's message to the companies: give it back. "When you look at one company where they made 12 times what they made the year before, they ought to give some of that back to the public, and they better cut the retail price, the consumer price," he said. He also took to Truth Social to go after Chevron CEO Mike Wirth personally, accusing him of conveniently forgetting that the Trump administration is the reason the industry is thriving. "Get your consumer (retail!) Oil Prices DOWN, NOW!" the president wrote.
The Guardian framed the story squarely as Trump's war producing Trump's profiteers, noting that the windfall extends well beyond American shores. Shell nearly doubled its net profit to almost $10 billion. Saudi Aramco posted a 44% profit increase to $32.69 billion. BP's new chief executive, Meg O'Neill, essentially admitted the company wasn't even maximizing the opportunity, saying there was "more to do" because BP was "not making the most" of its potential. The Post focused on Trump's personal appeals and his June threat to prosecute oil firms for gouging — an order that sent the Justice Department to investigate.
Here's the part neither outlet lingers on: this is how the war machine works, regardless of who sits in the Oval Office. The same energy conglomerates that cashed in on Russia's invasion of Ukraine are now cashing in on the Iran conflict. The same military-industrial logic that drives interventions also drives the supply shocks that juice corporate earnings. Trump can fume about it on Truth Social, but the system was built to produce exactly this outcome — companies capture the upside, and working Americans eat the cost at the pump.
Neither ExxonMobil nor Chevron responded to requests for comment. Trump predicted gas prices will "drop through the floor" once the U.S. is "finished with Iran." Nobody has defined what finished looks like — or when the bill comes due.
