Consumer inflation in the United States rose sharply to 3.3 percent in March, government data showed Wednesday, as higher energy prices due to the war in the Middle East hit Americans hard.
The nationwide sticker shock put pressure on President Donald Trump, who has ordered peace talks with Iran.
By comparison, the consumer price index (CPI) rose only 2.4 percent year-on-year a month earlier.
Gasoline prices surged by 21.2 percent between February and March — the largest monthly increase since the the government began publishing a gasoline price index in 1967, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said.
Excluding volatile energy and food prices, inflation accelerated, rising 2.6 percent compared to 2.5 a month earlier.
Markets had anticipated the surge, according to the consensus published by MarketWatch.
The United States and Israel began bombing Iran on February 28 and Tehran retaliated by blocking traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway used to carry a fifth of the world's oil and gas deliveries.
Despite being the world's top producer of crude oil, the United States also felt the pain, as prices at the gas pump shot up.
The Trump administration — elected in part on a promise to quash inflation — maintains that the war's economic disruptions will be temporary.
