American drivers paid the highest Labor Day gas prices on record this year, as a six-month conflict involving Iran continues to disrupt global fuel supply chains, according to AAA data reported by the Associated Press.

Record prices at the pump

The average price of regular gasoline reached $4.14 a gallon heading into the holiday weekend, nearly a dollar above last year's price and well past the previous Labor Day record of $3.82, set in 2012. Diesel fared even worse, hitting an all-time high of $5.85 a gallon on Friday. For comparison, the national average sat at $3.20 a gallon at this point last year.

Consumers are adjusting their plans accordingly. One driver interviewed by AP in Claymont, Delaware, said her family had largely stayed close to home this summer because driving has gotten so expensive, cutting back on the road trips they typically take.

Iran and the Strait of Hormuz

The price surge traces back to February, when the United States and Israel launched strikes against Iran. Since then, crude oil traffic through the Strait of Hormuz — one of the world's most critical oil transit routes — has fallen sharply, and Iran has declined to reopen it fully. Energy experts point directly to that bottleneck as the primary driver of the sustained price increase. A Texas Christian University energy finance professor told AP that market conditions point squarely to the ongoing conflict and the disruption at Hormuz.

Adding a new layer to the situation, Iran is expected to announce an alternative shipping route intended to bypass the strait, though details on its capacity and timeline remain unclear. Any new route could ease — or further complicate — the flow of crude depending on how it is implemented and whether shipping companies are willing to use it.

No quick relief in sight

US Energy Secretary Chris Wright acknowledged that prices remain higher than they were last Labor Day but offered no clear timeline for when consumers might see relief. With the conflict now in its seventh month and no resolution to the Strait of Hormuz standoff, analysts say fuel costs are likely to stay elevated through the fall, with ripple effects expected across shipping, aviation and consumer goods that depend on transportation costs.

For now, American households are absorbing the cost directly at the pump, with families like the one in Delaware recalibrating everyday spending — including on necessities like childcare — as fuel remains one of the most visible signs of a geopolitical conflict playing out thousands of miles away.