‘It’s deplorable’: Trump gets richer from oil and gas as Iran war pushes up costs for Americans

The president’s energy holdings rose sharply during the conflict, prompting criticism from Democrats and the leader of the nation’s Black farmers.

As millions of Americans continue to suffer from crushingly high oil and gas prices as a result of the U.S.-Israel war in Iran, President Donald Trump is personally getting richer from the global surge.

According to a new report released by Democrats on the Congressional Joint Economic Committee, and first reported by CBS News, Trump’s personal stock holdings in oil and gas are worth between $22.5 million and $81.6 million, having increased, on average, by 43% since the end of 2025.

Democrats found that since Trump launched his now 10-month-long war in Iran back in February, the president purchased between $4.7 million and $17.5 million in oil and gas stocks. He also sold between $2 million and $5.4 million in oil and gas stocks in the same timeframe.

But if the revelation of Trump’s personal wealth from the military conflict in the Middle East was meant to be kept secret, it doesn’t appear to concern the 80-year-old commander-in-chief, who is entering the lame-duck period of his presidency. During a recent campaign rally in Georgia, Trump bragged that he and oil companies are getting rich as a result of his military actions.

“The United States oil and gas business is making hundreds of billions of dollars,” Trump said on Saturday in Georgia. “Our country is making hundreds of billions of dollars because of what’s happened in the Middle East.”

While assuring Americans that gas prices would eventually come down, he added, “We’re making a freaking fortune.”

John Boyd, president and founder of the National Association of Black Farmers, slammed the president for profiting from his war in Iran, while America’s farmers struggle to afford diesel as prices soar as a result.

“That, to me, should be illegal for a president to make money off a man-made catastrophe,” Boyd told theGrio. “He created this mess so that his companies could make money and Black farmers could go out of business.”

Boyd has repeatedly slammed the Trump administration for not providing assistance to Black farmers, who face systemic economic harms, including years-long racial discrimination at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. U.S. farmers are feeling the brunt of Trump’s policies, driving up the cost of fertilizer, diesel, and machinery, and cutting their sales of U.S. beef and other crops. However, Black farmers have disproportionately felt that economic pain, while hundreds face foreclosures of their farms.

“It’s deplorable, and someone needs to speak up on it,” Boyd said of Trump’s oil and gas profits, which are based on the president’s financial filings with the Office of Government Ethics.

The revelation of Trump’s growing fortune from the Iran war comes as a new Fox News poll shows that 85% of Americans say they are concerned about inflation and high prices. Even more Americans, 88%, say they are most concerned with corruption in government.

White House spokesperson Davis Ingle dismissed criticisms over Trump’s oil and gas stock trading, asserting the president “only acts in the best interests of the American public.”

Ingle said Trump’s stock and bond portfolio is “independently managed by third-party financial institutions” and that all his holdings are “maintained in discretionary accounts and invested through computer-based model portfolios that automatically replicate recognized indexes.”

Democratic strategist Antjuan Seawright says the president’s recent financial disclosures show he’s “giving the middle finger” to Americans, including his MAGA supporters.

“I’m not surprised. Obviously, there’s no sense of checks and balances for him by the legislative branch,” said Seawright, referring to the Republican-controlled Congress. He told theGrio, “I think the only way we can provide checks and balances to this is by way of the American people, but Donald Trump will have to face the sun at some point.”

Seawright, who is working to help Democrats win majority control of Congress, added, “All those who are also in the corruption camp will have to face the sun and the music at some point, and that’s what part of the focus of this Democratic majority will be: holding the crooks accountable.”