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The national average price of gas has returned to $4 per gallon.

That’s 86 cents more than a year ago and up 13 cents from last week.

Prices have climbed as ships came under attack and US retaliated.

The national average price for a gallon of gasoline has hit $4 per gallon as the uneasy truce between Iran and the United States has disintegrated into a shooting match. This has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz once again, bringing shipments of oil to a virtual standstill.

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According to AAA , regular unleaded is up from $3.87 a week ago and $3.95 a month ago. More importantly, in 2025, drivers were only paying $3.14 per gallon.

More: Trump Admin Promotes Mysterious Freedom Fuel Network Selling Cheap Gas

Diesel prices have also climbed significantly and they’re averaging $5.11. That’s an increase of 23 cents in a week and $1.38 in a year.

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As usual, prices vary significantly by location and Californians are paying an average of $5.50 per gallon. In some areas of the Golden State, such as Mono County, gas is averaging $6.70.

It’s a vastly different story in Indiana, where the statewide average is just $3.35 per gallon. Even in the priciest areas, gas can be had for less than $3.50 there.

Average Cost Per Gallon July 20, 2026

Regular Mid-Grade Premium Diesel E85

Current $4.0030 $4.4870 $4.8730 $5.1080 $3.0790

Yesterday $3.9980 $4.4920 $4.8740 $5.1010 $3.0750

Week Ago $3.8720 $4.3660 $4.7520 $4.8750 $2.9630

Month Ago $3.9510 $4.4590 $4.8370 $5.0620 $3.0350

Year Ago $3.1410 $3.6180 $3.9780 $3.7270 $2.5400

SWIPE

AAA

Iran Developments

The spike in gas prices can be chalked up to the resumption of hostilities in the Middle East. Over the past several days, Iran has attacked ships, neighboring countries, and American military installations in the region.

Around 4 pm today, U.S. Central Command announced new strikes against Iran designed to “further degrade Iranian military capabilities used to attack commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.” This marks the tenth consecutive day of attacks and it comes after a deadly weekend for American military personnel in the region. Two service members were killed in Jordan on July 17 and a third is listed as missing. Another service member was killed in Iran, on the 18th, during a controlled detonation of an unexploded Iranian drone.

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Today at 4 p.m. ET, U.S. forces began a new round of strikes against Iran at the Commander in Chief's direction. The strikes are designed to further degrade Iranian military capabilities used to attack commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) July 20, 2026

President Trump lashed out over the deaths and proclaimed, “Every time Iran kills an American soldier they will pay for that killing many times over!”

For their part, Iran Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said, “Iran is our homeland” and “we will defend every inch of our land until our very last breath.”

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Covid fatigue is real, but policymakers and policy influencers need to wake up to something important: Post-pandemic polarization threatens to lock our memories into attractive, untrue conclusions that will leave us unprotected next time.

When Covid-19 first arrived, there was little historical experience to guide response. After watching catastrophic results and stress on the health care systems in China, Italy, and Iran, American states rapidly invoked many measures simultaneously to combat a virus with proven destructive power: masks, social distancing, and school and business closures. They turned to the 1918 flu pandemic to understand the importance of rapid and society-wide response.

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QUICK FACTS

Where is it? Lake Skadar, Montenegro and Albania [ 42.201087364, 19.303135741 ]

What's in the photo? A giant, milky-green swirl on the lake's surface

Who took the photo? An unnamed astronaut on board the International Space Station

When was it taken? Feb. 21, 2020

This eye-catching astronaut photo shows a cloud of sediment swirling into a giant, milky-green vortex in one of Europe's largest lakes.

Lake Skadar (also known as Shkodër, Shkodra or Scutari) is the largest lake in Southern Europe, with a surface area between 140 and 200 square miles (360 to 520 square kilometers), depending on the time of year. It is situated on the border between Montenegro, which surrounds the western half of the lake (left in the photo), and Albania, which encircles the lake's eastern shore. The body of water is split 65% to 35% in Montenegro's favor.

The lake's main water source is the Morača River, to the northwest, and its biggest outlets are the Bojana and Drin rivers, which start at the lake's easternmost point and eventually drain into the Adriatic Sea, which is partially visible in the bottom left of the photo. Skadar's southern shore is also hugged by a lofty mountain range, known as the Dinaric Alps.

During late winter and early spring, the lake's water level rises, and it usually fills with a milky-green substance that often gets whipped into a vortex by a combination of wind-driven surface currents and the natural flow of water between the lake's major inlets and outlets.

The swirling material looks very similar to blooming algae , but it is actually made of sediments — predominantly limestone and dolomite — that wash into the lake from the Dinaric Alps and other nearby mountains as the snow melts.

Lake Skadar formed millions of years ago and was once connected to the Adriatic Sea (visible in the background of this image). (Image credit: Wikimedia) Skadar is a karst lake, meaning it was once a cave system that flooded and eventually collapsed, likely because the caves were made from the same easily erodible rocks that now swirl on the lake's surface, according to NASA's Earth Observatory . The lake is a "cryptodepression" because most of the lake's floor is below sea level.

The lake originally formed during the Cenozoic Era (66 million years ago to the present), according to the International Lake Environment Committee Foundation's World Lake Database . It is home to several small islands, some of which can be seen in the photo along the lake's southern shore. These include Beška, which is home to a pair of 600-year-old churches, and Grmožur, where the remains of a 19th-century fortification loom above the lake's surface.

The shipwreck of a paddle steamboat, named Skanderbeg , lies along the lake's western shore. Local partisans sank the vessel in 1942 after Italian soldiers commandeered it during the Axis occupation of Yugoslavia in World War II. When the lake's water levels are at their lowest, part of the shipwreck rises above the surface.

Skadar Lake is a biodiversity hotspot and has protected wildlife status on both sides of the Montenegro-Albania border. It is a particularly important site for birds; more than 280 avian species call it home, including the Dalmatian pelican ( Pelecanus crispus ) and several endemic species, according to BirdLife International .

The lake also hosts around 50 freshwater snail species ‪—‬ more than any other lake on Earth, according to a 2013 study .

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A 2024 satellite photo shows an unusually active bloom of toxic cyanobacteria swirling in the water of Nevada's Pyramid Lake.

Mystery swirls in Baltic Sea

This 2018 satellite photo shows an unknown substance swirling across the Gulf of Gdańsk in Poland. Scientists were shocked to later discover what it really was.

Milky plumes in giant 'soda lake'

A 2016 astronaut photo shows surprising plumes of milky material swirling in the waters of Turkey's Lake Van, the largest alkaline lake on Earth.

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The Trump administration is centralizing and politicizing science grantmaking to an unprecedented degree. Most recently, the Office of Management and Budget proposed a rule to require political appointees to review grants and ensure the projects they fund “demonstrably advance the President’s policy priorities” and do not “facilitate” any “initiatives that … promote anti-American values.” If the new rule takes effect, the government will be able to terminate a grant if it no longer “effectuate[s] … the national interest” — in other words, if it’s no longer to the president’s liking.

The comment period on the proposed rule ended July 13. Before it can take effect, the OMB must still finalize the rule , which the agency aims to do by the end of August .

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