LOS ANGELES, May 2 -- At a gas station in Los Angeles, Ryder Thomas wore a grimace of barely suppressed anger as he filled his pickup truck, watching the cost tick up to US$130 (RM516) for a full tank - US$30 more than he was paying before the US and Israel attacked Iran.

"I'm mad about the price, but I'm even madder about why it's so high," the 28-year-old told AFP.

This week, pump prices in the United States climbed to their highest level since early 2022, when Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine triggered a global surge in the cost of oil.

Hostilities in the Middle East, which began when Israel and the United States started bombing Iran on February 28, have crimped supply, sending the price of crude surging.

The war launched by...