Trump Has Made Up to $15M in Oil and Gas Stock Rise Spurred in Part by Iran War

Honest, paywall-free news is rare. Please support our boldly independent journalism with a donation of any size. President Donald Trump’s deeply unpopular war on Iran has helped inject millions of dollars into his personal wealth while saddling everyday Americans with a $72 billion bill, a new report reveals. Amid the war, oil and gas companies’ stocks have skyrocketed in value as companies report staggering earnings; ExxonMobil recently reported its profits doubling year-over-year, while Chevron’s net income has increased nearly 400 percent as a result of the disruptions to the global oil market. In all, oil and gas companies reported $125 billion in profits in the first half of 2026, with a corresponding jump in stock value across the fossil fuel industry. As a result of that rise, Trump may have profited as much as $15.5 million, and netted at least $4.6 million, from his oil and gas holdings this year, Democrats on Congress’s Joint Economic Committee (JEC) found in a report this week. In all, his oil and gas holdings went from a maximum value of $45.5 million to as much as $61 million. The analysis was based on stocks that Trump held at the end of 2025, including Exxon, Chevron, and seven other oil and gas companies. His profits may be even higher than the report suggests, as Trump bought additional oil and gas stocks in the first three months of 2026 worth up to $3.6 million. These were bought in a period when the U.S. seized control of Venezuela’s oil profits and launched a war on Iran that has sent oil prices sky-high. Meanwhile, the rise in energy prices has cost Americans an additional $71.5 billion in gas prices at the pump, the Democrats found, or an average of over $600 a household. That’s before taking into account the hike in prices for things like groceries and other associated costs like increased mortgage rates caused by the war. “President Trump continues to get richer from an illegal war that he started and refuses to resolve, while Americans pay the price for his actions,” said Sen. Maggie Hassan, the committee’s top Democrat. Trump’s direct profits from his war on Iran add to a growing list of ways that the president has boosted his personal wealth during his time back in office. Earlier this month, the JEC Democrats released a separate report finding that Trump reported $2.2 billion in income in 2025 — while families have had to spend an additional $3,500 on average in the first year and a half of Trump’s second presidency due to inflated prices. Trump’s stock portfolio has come under particular scrutiny as he’s made thousands of trades involving companies who are directly affected by his policies — sparking insider trading concerns as well as alarm over the fact that he owns individual stocks to begin with, which is already extremely unusual for a president. Recent disclosures showed that Trump made more than 1,000 transactions in June alone, involving purchases of at least $49 million in stocks and sales of at least $28.5 million. The White House claims that he is not personally involved in managing his portfolio, and “there are no conflicts of interest” in his stock activity. On Monday, Trump said that Exxon and Chevron are “making too much money” and said the companies are raising their prices amid the war. Gas prices have soared to over $4 a gallon on average across the country, spurring further public opposition to the unpopular, expensive war. Media that fights fascism Truthout is funded almost entirely by readers — that’s why we can speak truth to power and cut against the mainstream narrative. But independent journalists at Truthout face mounting political repression under Trump. We rely on your support to survive McCarthyist censorship. Please make a tax-deductible one-time or monthly donation.