US inflation surged in March to its highest level since May 2024, with the latest figures tying the spike to Donald Trump's escalating conflict with Iran, according to new government data released in Washington on Wednesday. The Consumer Price Index rose 0.9 per cent from February and is now 3.3 per cent higher than a year ago, an annual jump that officials and economists alike are linking to the shockwaves from the Iran war.
The news came after weeks of mounting concern that the stand-off in the Gulf would spill over into everyday prices. The conflict began on 28 February, when the US and Israel launched joint strikes on Iran. Since then, traders have watched oil markets with a kind of nervous fascination as benchmark prices repeatedly punched through the $100-a-barrel mark. That surge, highly visible on petrol station forecourts, is now working its way through the rest of the US economy.
