Gas Prices Soar Past $4 per Gallon in Maryland
By: Adam Reuter
Gas prices at the pump just blasted past the $4.00 mark. Station signs across Baltimore County flash $4.17 for regular unleaded fuel. The state government slapped drivers with another gas tax hike on July 1st. The Comptroller’s Office bumped the Maryland motor fuel tax up to 46.6 cents per gallon. That local tax creep (effectively a penny per gallon) barely registers as a blip compared to global oil trade speculation. The real reason you pay out the nose traces straight back to international warfare.
Mainstream United States media hides the truth about Paragraph 36 of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. You will never hear Sean Hannity or Jesse Watters talking about Paragraph 36 during their cable “news” broadcasts. Or that Iran was complying with the agreement until the day it was broken. They cover up what President Trump signed on May 8, 2018. The U.S. government spent eight years choking off Iran’s oil exports. Washington targeted Tehran’s central bank and blocked their precious metals trade. The feds severed Iran’s access to SWIFT banking networks. Tehran is the equivalent of Washington, D.C. in case you haven’t looked on an international map lately. Imagine a foreign power pulling those exact moves on the United States–Washington would declare an act of war immediately.
The theatrical documents that triggered that May 2018 executive order proved nothing. Retrospective analysis showed they never contained evidence of active cheating. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took old historical files from a shut-down 2003 program. He dressed them up on live television. He passed off decades-old history as current foul play to push a specific military agenda.
Non-proliferation operates as global gun control enforced by the world’s biggest military. Iran is certainly not an innocent player in all of this. They fund terrorist organizations such as Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis. That doesn’t take away from the fact that pulling out of the nuclear agreement resulted directly from Washington/Trump breaking the contract first. Across the Middle East, locals label the U.S. military as a terrorist organization for actions like the February 28, 2026 Shajareh Tayyebeh Elementary School airstrike, which directly caused the gruesome deaths of over 100 schoolgirls. For some strange reason, that airstrike was not heavily reported on by conservative cable news outlets. I can’t imagine why…
“But it was a mistake, Adam!”
Doesn’t matter…the end result stays the same no matter the intent. Do we know the names of the military officers who directed that strike? No, we do not. The decision-makers hide behind classified target packages while over 100 dead schoolgirls lay under the rubble. Intent doesn’t bring those children back or change the horrific outcome. Intent is just a legal shield cooked up by lawyers to block prosecution under international law. I rest my case.
The current military campaign against Iran follows a brutal timeline of escalation. In April 2024, Israel bombed an Iranian embassy compound in Damascus, Syria. That strike leveled the diplomatic facility and killed top military generals. Hitting an embassy broke long-standing international norms regarding diplomatic immunity. Iran launched its first direct missile and drone response against Israeli targets weeks later.
The violence accelerated during late 2024 with targeted assassinations. Israel assassinated Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh directly inside Tehran. That hit constituted a massive breach of Iranian national sovereignty. Israel also eliminated Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut. Iran retaliated in October 2024 by launching nearly 200 ballistic missiles at Israeli military installations.
A massive coordinated campaign kicked off in February 2026. Israel and the U.S. launched pre-emptive strikes on February 28, bombing military targets, missile production sites and nuclear facilities inside Iran. Tehran immediately launched retaliatory barrages against Israeli targets and regional military bases. The global oil markets panicked, sending the cost per barrel skyrocketing right into our Baltimore County gas stations.
Wall Street traders gamble on paper contracts instead of hauling physical barrels of crude oil. These paper contracts guarantee a set price for oil delivered months down the line based entirely on future global supply predictions. When military conflict erupts in an oil-producing region like the Middle East, traders panic over blocked shipping lanes and destroyed refineries. Speculators snap up those contracts and drive prices through the roof.
Desperate fuel distributors pay whatever outrageous rates the market demands. Wall Street insiders earn money on pure fear before handing off the paper to actual refineries. Because crude oil makes up over half the cost of regular unleaded fuel, that trading-floor panic translates immediately into painful spikes at the pump–even before a single drop of physical oil gets delayed.
The government and big multi-satellite dish media outlets keep citizens in the dark to make the U.S. look innocent. Maryland houses a massive network of high-dollar, taxpayer-funded defense contractors. Some of the largest companies operating and earning billions right in the state include Lockheed Martin, which is headquartered in Bethesda, along with Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics, Leidos, Booz Allen Hamilton and the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. These corporations earn blood money directly from foreign conflicts.
Honest reporting will never happen on corporate cable and local news networks. If you want raw reporting without a corporate filter, read The Baltimore Informer and tune into our new podcast starting September 1, 2026 when the publication returns from our summer vacation break.
