Former Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene mocked President Donald Trump’s repeated claims of victory in the Iran war on Monday, pointing to record-high Labor Day gas prices as evidence that the fighting has produced pain at the pump rather than the cheap fuel the president has long promised.
“Wait, I thought we won the war like 50 times already!!! Diesel is nearly $6 per gallon, will soon go past $8 per gallon in California, and gas is the highest it’s ever been in history for Labor Day weekend. It’s so much winning we can hardly take it,” Greene wrote in a post on X published at 8:54 p.m. on September 7, 2026.
What Trump Said
Greene’s post was a direct response to a Truth Social message Trump published earlier that same day.
“Oil prices will drop precipitously, like everything else is dropping (but more!), when we WIN the war with Iran. Three Dollars a gallon, but ultimately, below Two Dollars a gallon. It will all happen quickly, and Iran will never have a Nuclear Weapon. MAGA! President DJT,” Trump wrote at 6:16 p.m. on September 7.
The message tied any relief at the pump to a future military outcome, even though Trump and members of his administration have declared the war won on several occasions since the conflict began on February 28 under the banner Operation Epic Fury.
A Victory Declared Many Times Before
Trump first claimed the war had already been won less than two weeks after it started. Speaking to a crowd in Hebron, Kentucky, on March 11, Trump told supporters U.S. forces had destroyed dozens of Iranian naval vessels and eliminated Iran’s air force capabilities, saying “We won. We won. In the first hour it was over, but we won.”
Two weeks later, on March 24, Trump repeated the claim from the Oval Office, describing Iran as “totally defeated” while discussing prospects for a peace deal. Around the same time, reports emerged that the administration had authorized sending more than 1,000 additional members of the 82nd Airborne Division to the Gulf region, adding to the roughly 50,000 American troops already stationed there.
In April, after a ceasefire was announced, Trump again declared “total and complete victory,” telling Agence France-Presse it was “100%. No question about it.” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth echoed that assessment at an April 8 Pentagon briefing, calling the campaign “a historic and overwhelming victory on the battlefield, a capital-V military victory.” Fact-checkers at the time noted that while U.S. and Israeli forces had made real gains against Iran’s naval, air force and air-defense systems, experts cautioned that “total victory” overlooked unresolved questions, including the status of Iran’s nuclear materials.
By June 15, his 80th birthday, Trump declared the conflict resolved a third time, writing that “the Deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran is now complete” and that the Strait of Hormuz — closed to shipping since the war began — would reopen and bring “peace and security” to the region.
The Strait Has Not Reopened As Promised
Despite the repeated declarations, disruptions tied to the Strait of Hormuz have continued well past Trump’s June announcement. Reporting this week described continued volatility around the waterway as a driver of crude prices in the $90-per-barrel range, more than three months after the strait was supposed to reopen. AAA has similarly pointed to ongoing volatility around the strait as a reason crude has stayed elevated heading into the fall.
Record Prices Greet Labor Day Weekend
Greene’s post landed as the national average for regular unleaded reached $4.15 a gallon on Monday, according to AAA — the first Labor Day in history with pump prices above $4, and above the previous Labor Day record of $3.82 set in September 2012. Regular gas is up nearly a dollar from the roughly $3.20 a gallon drivers paid at this time last year.
Diesel set its own record heading into the holiday, hitting $5.90 a gallon on Monday, up from $3.71 a year earlier — a rise of more than 55%. Diesel powers most of the trucks, trains and farm equipment that move goods across the country, meaning the increase feeds directly into the cost of groceries and other consumer products.
State-level prices varied widely. California drivers paid the most in the nation, with the statewide average near $5.86 a gallon, up from $4.62 a year earlier — the price level Greene’s post warned could soon cross $8 for diesel specifically. Alaska, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington all posted averages above $5 a gallon for regular gas, while Indiana had the nation’s lowest statewide average, at roughly $3.43.
Crude Benchmarks Remain Well Above Pre-War Levels
West Texas Intermediate crude, the U.S. benchmark, was trading at roughly $92 a barrel Monday morning, compared with about $67 before the Iran war began on February 28. Brent crude, the international benchmark, traded at about $97 a barrel, up from roughly $72 before the war. Analysts have pointed to tanker disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz, Iran’s continued refusal to fully reopen the waterway, and Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries — which prompted Russia to halt diesel exports through the end of September — as key factors squeezing global fuel supply.
Administration Offers No Timeline For Relief
Energy Secretary Chris Wright, appearing on ABC’s “This Week” the day before Greene’s post, acknowledged that prices remain higher than they were on Labor Day 2025 but did not offer a timeline for when that might change. “Yes, they’re higher today, but we’re doing everything we can to push them down,” Wright said.
The current national average remains below the 2026 peak of $4.56 a gallon reached in May and below the all-time record of $5.02 a gallon set in June 2022. Even so, a tracker from Brown University has estimated that higher gas and diesel prices tied to the war have cost American households more than $741 apiece since the fighting began.
Not Greene’s First Break With Trump Over The War
Monday’s post extended a running feud between Greene and the president that has spanned much of 2026. In late March, Greene wrote on X that “Americans don’t give a s*** about Trump building a WH ballroom or renovating the Kennedy Center as they are paying $4+ dollars per gallon for gas and nearly $6 for diesel because of another pointless foreign war,” adding that Americans were “suffering.” In April, after Trump addressed the nation on the war’s progress, Greene wrote that all she heard was “WAR WAR WAR,” saying the speech offered “nothing to lower the cost of living for Americans.”
Greene’s criticism of the war has been part of a broader rupture with the president that culminated in her resignation from Congress. Trump withdrew his endorsement of Greene in November 2025 and branded her a “traitor” amid a dispute over the release of files related to Jeffrey Epstein; Greene resigned days later, saying in a lengthy statement that she refused “to be a ‘battered wife’ hoping it all goes away and gets better.” Her resignation took effect January 5, 2026, roughly two months before the war she has since criticized began.
Political Backdrop
The record prices arrive as campaigns for the November midterm elections intensify, with energy costs emerging as a recurring line of attack against the administration, including from Republicans like Greene who once counted themselves among Trump’s staunchest allies. Trump has in recent weeks stepped up criticism of refiners and fuel retailers, accusing them of profiting from elevated pump prices even as his administration highlights increased U.S. refined product exports.
Monday’s exchange marks the latest instance of Trump tying a resolution of the war to economic relief for American consumers — a promise he has repeated at multiple points since February — even as the war’s declared endings have not translated into the reopened oil markets or lower prices at the pump that he has predicted each time.