Por Chris Isidore, CNN

El precio promedio que los conductores estadounidenses pagan por un galón de gasolina alcanzó los US$ 4 este lunes, mientras se intensificaban los enfrentamientos entre Estados Unidos e Irán, lo que agravó la interrupción del flujo de petróleo a través del estrecho de Ormuz.

El precio promedio se sitúa ahora apenas por encima de los US$ 4 por galón, según la Asociación Estadounidense del Automóvil, o AAA. La gasolina superó por primera vez la marca de los US$ 4, un umbral psicológicamente importante, el 31 de marzo, un mes después de iniciado el conflicto.

Los precios saltaron desde un promedio de US$ 2,98 por galón antes de la guerra, ya que el conflicto interrumpió la mayor parte del flujo de petróleo a través del crítico estrecho de Ormuz.

A principios de mayo, los precios de la gasolina subieron a un máximo de cuatro años de US$ 4,56 antes de caer ante las esperanzas de que las negociaciones entre Irán y Estados Unidos reabrieran la vía marítima y liberaran los petroleros que habían quedado atrapados en el golfo Pérsico.

Los dos países firmaron un memorando de entendimiento el 14 de junio para detener las hostilidades, lo que provocó que la gasolina volviera a bajar de los US$ 4 unos días después.

Pero los precios en las estaciones de servicio comenzaron a subir nuevamente después de que Irán reanudó los ataques a barcos que intentaban salir del estrecho y después de que Estados Unidos respondió con represalias y estableció un bloqueo a los puertos iraníes. El precio promedio ha subido alrededor de 13 centavos en la última semana.

Los precios de la gasolina aumentaron junto con los del petróleo, con el crudo Brent superando brevemente los US$ 90 por barril por primera vez desde principios de junio este lunes. El Brent subió aproximadamente un 16 % en la última semana. El West Texas Intermediate, el referente estadounidense, subió alrededor de US$ 12 por barril este mes.

Los altos precios en las gasolineras son un dolor de cabeza para el presidente Donald Trump y el Partido Republicano de cara a las elecciones intermedias en noviembre.

Sin embargo, cerca de la mitad de los estados de Estados Unidos aún tienen un precio promedio inferior a los US$ 4 por galón. Indiana tiene el precio promedio más bajo, con US$ 3,35 por galón, mientras que California es el más caro, con US$ 5,49. El estado de Washington y Hawai también tienen un precio promedio superior a los US$ 5 por galón, según la AAA.

No se espera que los precios de la gasolina bajen en el corto plazo, según Tom Kloza, analista independiente de petróleo y asesor de Gulf Oil. El reciente aumento en los futuros de la gasolina indica que los precios subirán entre 10 y 25 centavos más en la próxima semana.

“Eso ya está descontado”, dijo.

La guerra con Irán y el renovado cierre del estrecho no son los únicos factores que impulsan los precios al alza. También están los recientes ataques con drones de Ucrania a refinerías rusas, señaló Kloza.

“Rusia ha tenido que importar gasolina, cuando durante muchos, muchos años ha sido un vendedor neto”, dijo. “Eso ha generado temores en los mercados sobre una escasez de productos refinados. Y no importa cuánta gasolina produzcamos aquí, es un mercado global”.

Todo esto ocurre en plena temporada alta de conducción en Estados Unidos, cuando la demanda de gasolina está en su punto máximo, indicó Kloza. Se espera que la mayor demanda mantenga la presión al alza sobre los precios de la gasolina hasta el Día del Trabajo.

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Por Betsy Klein, CNN

La segunda dama de Estados Unidos, Usha Vance, dio a luz a su cuarto hijo, anunció el domingo el vicepresidente J. D. Vance.

Alec Neel Vance se une a sus hermanos Ewan, Vivek y Mirabel.

“Usha y el bebé están felices y sanos, y nuestros hijos están encantados de conocer a su hermano pequeño”, dijo el vicepresidente en las redes sociales, donde agradeció a los médicos y al personal del Centro Médico Militar Nacional Walter Reed y de la Unidad Médica de la Casa Blanca.

La llegada de Alec marca la primera vez en más de 150 años que una segunda dama da a luz mientras ocupa el cargo.

Mientras se adaptan a la vida como familia de seis miembros, los Vance pasarán más tiempo en una zona rural del norte de Virginia, alquilando parte de una extensa propiedad multimillonaria en el acomodado enclave de Middleburg.

El alquiler busca ofrecer a la segunda dama y a los hijos de Vance una mayor sensación de normalidad, lejos del escrutinio de Washington, según personas familiarizadas con el asunto. Se espera que el vicepresidente se aloje allí ocasionalmente, aunque él y su familia mantendrán su residencia oficial en el Observatorio Naval.

En una entrevista reciente con ABC News, Usha Vance reflexionó sobre dicho escrutinio y sobre la crianza de sus hijos en su papel de segunda dama.

“Todo lo que hacemos está a la vista del público”, dijo, añadiendo que “la gente se entera” si sus hijos se portan mal o enferman.

“Intentamos no exponerlos a situaciones en las que queden en evidencia y algún día digan: ‘Vaya, me has avergonzado’. Así que tratamos de mantener en privado la mayor parte de lo que hacen, pero cuando estamos en público con ellos, simplemente dejamos que sean niños y que suceda lo que tenga que suceder”, comentó Vance, de 40 años.

La segunda dama dejó su trabajo como abogada de alto nivel cuando su marido se convirtió en el segundo al mando del presidente Donald Trump. Ha aparecido frecuentemente junto al vicepresidente durante su mandato y ha formado su propio equipo de trabajo reducido. Con la alfabetización infantil como eje de su labor, lanzó un desafío de lectura de verano el año pasado y un podcast complementario este año. La última vez que una segunda dama tuvo un bebé mientras ocupaba el cargo fue en 1870, cuando el vicepresidente Schuyler Colfax y su esposa, Ellen Maria Colfax, dieron la bienvenida a Schuyler Colfax III, quien más tarde llegaría a ser alcalde de South Bend, Indiana.

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Adam Cancryn, de CNN, contribuyó a este informe.

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By Lauren Fox, Sarah Ferris, CNN

(CNN) — In a closed-door briefing earlier this month, key Pentagon officials sat down with House spending leaders from both parties to make an urgent case to quickly deliver more cash to fund the US war in Iran.

But when pressed by members of both parties for details, Pentagon officials were unable to offer any meaningful specifics about why they need the money so quickly — frustrating Republicans and Democrats alike, according to two people in the room.

Now, with the Pentagon’s reserves further depleted, the administration is unfurling a full-court press on Republican lawmakers in hopes it can clinch tens of billions of dollars that officials are seeking this summer as the US continues its fight against Iran.

In the last week, the Pentagon invited dozens of House members for a marathon meeting that included face time with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. Select members – including the head of the chamber’s powerful Appropriations Committee – have also been invited to Camp David and Vice President JD Vance trekked to the basement of the Capitol on Wednesday to sell the plan to GOP rank-and-file, arguing Republican unity is essential.

But several GOP members told CNN they still lack critical information about the military’s capacity and needs – and aren’t convinced by what they have heard. Even those Republicans who support the funding push fear that a fraught political gamble in the waning days of summer could lead to a legislative implosion just months before the midterm elections.

“It’s a risky proposition,” Majority Leader John Thune told reporters in the Capitol last week, referring to other House GOP efforts to pass a party-line bill for defense and other priorities. “Is the juice worth the squeeze?”

Not much time to act

The Defense Department said it has had meaningful engagements with lawmakers.

“The Department of War has conducted hundreds of engagements with individual members of Congress, or groups of them, over the last two months,” a Defense Department official said. “This, in addition to the consistent provision of budget rollout briefs, informational requests from committees of jurisdiction, and the regular interactions of the Department and the Hill, represents one of the most productively aggressive and appropriate legislative engagement packages in many years.”

For months, defense hawks in Congress have been warning the Pentagon’s munitions and funding have been badly depleted since the beginning of the war in Iran. Lawmakers anticipated they’d need to pass some kind of a supplemental funding package before the end of the fiscal year and congressional leadership has made it clear they want to move swiftly.

“Among the defense people, it’s an emergency that needs to get done,” Rep. Mike Simpson of Idaho said. “They’re going to run out of money in mid-August.”

Rep. Steve Womack, an appropriator from Arkansas, argued “the Pentagon people I’ve talked to say if we’re still having this conversation in August, that’s not a good thing” and Rep. Ronny Jackson, a member of the Intelligence, Armed Services and Foreign affairs committees told CNN the deadline is “serious.”

“We need to get it done as soon as possible,” Jackson said.

But the emergency argument isn’t resonating with everyone. Some conservatives have threatened they could vote against the funding because it would simply go on the nation’s credit card. Others argue they aren’t clear why the Pentagon is in such desperate need for money after billions were infused to the Defense Department as part of the last sweeping party-line policy bill.

CNN has reached out to the Defense Department for comment.

Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, who said he recently turned down a visit to Camp David because he wasn’t interested in a “sales pitch” on the funding, said

By Kyle Feldscher, CNN

(CNN) — Before this World Cup began, I kept thinking one thing over and over as the tournament grew closer: “This could be a disaster.”

Headlines from around the country swirled about how the lengthy US government shutdown left local municipalities without the necessary funds to prepare for millions of people coming to the US. There were concerns about the USA’s toxic political environment keeping many of the international visitors from coming for the tournament. Reports of price gouging around the games made it seem like the tournament could see thousands of empty seats as fans were priced out from traveling. The start of the war in Iran soured the reputation of the US government at home and abroad.

It was enough to make me, a World Cup enthusiast, be worried that this tournament would be huge letdown.

I couldn’t have been more wrong.

From the moment that the first ball was kicked in Mexico City to the final whistle in the New Jersey Meadowlands, North America was the host of one of the most epic parties the world has ever seen. It was a total vibe shift, one that couldn’t have been more needed.

On that opening night in Mexico, we saw South Koreans and Mexicans bonding like long lost brothers. When the attention turned north of the border, we watched the Scots drink Boston dry; Norwegians row on every form of surface imaginable; Brazilians, Argentines and Colombians come out in droves and take over entire cities; and random tourists discover American delicacies like Buc-ee’s and Waffle House.

There were even a few weeks there when Americans could believe – however far-fetched it seemed – that the USA had suddenly turned a corner and became a World Cup contender after two inspiring wins to start the tournament.

The US, for years, had seen the political chaos from Washington, DC, radiate out and affect the mood of the country. For more than five weeks, the headlines from so many other cities – Algeria’s love affair with Lawrence, Kansas; Boston’s summer fling with Scottish fans and then their takeover of Miami; Seattle’s epic atmosphere; Atlanta’s downtown suddenly overrun with thousands of people as its fanfest became the hottest ticket in town, etc. – suddenly reminded millions of Americans of something that was true all along: This country is actually pretty great.

That’s not to say the politics that so often dominate our lives were absent or should have been ignored. The 39 days of the World Cup definitely had their moments of politics invading what was hoped to be a sporting sanctuary.

The Iranian team’s treatment by FIFA and the US government was rightly criticized as Iran was forced to move its training base at the last moment and then could only fly into and out of the US days before its games, not leaving it much time to prepare or recover. President Donald Trump’s intrusion into the saga around Folarin Balogun briefly made observers question the integrity of the whole tournament (at least until Belgium battered the US and sent the Americans home). One referee was not allowed into the country because he was Somalian and other nations had visa issues that were blamed on Trump’s administration.

But for a tournament that threatened to have Trump loom over proceedings and dominate the headlines on a day-to-day basis, as was done with the celebration of the nation’s 250th birthday in Washington or that whole thing with DC’s reflecting pool, it was largely about the soccer.

Even when Trump took over the headlines with the Balogun affair, the game itself took the headlines right back. It was a day after that embarrassing affair for US soccer that Lionel Messi and Argentina pulled off one of the escapes of the tournament, storming back from a late 2-0 deficit against Egypt to win 3-2 in one of the mos

By Chris Isidore, CNN

(CNN) — The average price US drivers pay for gas hit $4 a gallon on Monday, only the second time it has reached that benchmark since the war in Iran disrupted global oil supplies.

The average price is now at $4 a gallon, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA). Gas first crossed the $4 mark on March 31, a month into the conflict.

The average national price for a gallon of regular gas was $2.98 before the fighting began and cut off most oil flowing through the critical Strait of Hormuz.

Prices rose to a four-year high of $4.56 in early May before falling on hopes that negotiations between Iran and the United States would reopen the waterway and release oil tankers that had been trapped in the Persian Gulf.

The two countries signed a memorandum of understanding on June 14 to halt hostilities, prompting gas to fall back below $4 a few days later.

But prices at the pump began to climb again after Iran resumed attacks on ships trying to exit the strait and after the US retaliated and put a blockade on Iranian ports. The average price is up around 13 cents over the past week.

About half of America’s states still have an average price below $4 a gallon, however. Indiana has the lowest average price at $3.35 a gallon, while California is the most expensive at $5.49. Washington state and Hawaii also have an average price above $5 a gallon, according to the AAA.

Gas prices are not expected to decline anytime soon, according to Tom Kloza, an independent oil analyst and advisor to Gulf Oil. The recent run-up in gasoline futures indicates prices will rise another 10 to 25 cents over the next week.

“That’s baked in,” he said.

The war with Iran and renewed closure of the strait aren’t the only factors driving prices higher. There’s also Ukraine’s recent drone attacks on Russian refineries, Kloza said.

“Russia has had to import gasoline, whereas they’ve been a net seller for many, many years,” he said. “It has raised fears in markets of a refined product shortage. And no matter how much gasoline we make here, it is a global market.”

All of this comes amid peak driving season in the United States, where demand for gas is at a maximum, Kloza said. Stronger demand is expected to keep upward pressure on gas prices through Labor Day.

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