The war with Iran is doing collateral damage to the world economy. The conflict is driving up energy, grain and fertilizer prices and threatening food shortages in poor countries.

It’s also destabilizing fragile states such as Pakistan and complicating options for the inflation fighters at central banks like the Federal Reserve. And it’s proving to be a new burden for American consumers already fed up with the high cost of living. Much of the pain is being caused by an effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which carries a fifth of the world’s oil.

Americans unite over sticker shock at gas pumps

It seems that a country divided on many fronts is finding common ground at the gas pumps. There, the cost of the Iran war is hitting Americans squarely in the wallet and aggravating people across the political spectrum.

That was the message from Associated Press interviews Monday with people at gas stations and beyond in five states. The national average gas price was $3.48 a gallon on Monday, up from $2.90 a month ago, before the war, according to tracking by AAA. But in interviews, some owners of electric vehicles expressed renewed gratitude for their vehicle choice as they sit out the sticker shock.

World leaders eye oil reserves; hold off tapping

A widening war in Iran has halted oil tankers, made targets of refineries and spooked investors worried about the cascading impact of spiking energy prices. If it might seem like the ideal time to dip into the world’s emergency oil stockpiles, global leaders have so far responded with reluctance.

U.S. President Donald Trump downplayed the idea of turning to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve over the weekend, saying supplies were ample and prices would soon fall. Representatives from the Group of Seven major industrialized powers discussed the issue Monday, but likewise decided against using strategic reserves.

Voting technology firm asks to dismiss indictment

Voting technology firm Smartmatic asked a federal judge to dismiss a criminal money laundering indictment saying the case is political retaliation tied to President Donald Trump’s baseless claims about the 2020 election.

The company’s parent SGO Corporation was added last year to charges accusing executives of paying bribes to election officials in the Philippines. Smartmatic said it had cooperated with investigators for years and believed it would avoid prosecution until Trump returned to power. Lawyers argue the Justice Department changed course to support Trump’s narrative that the election was stolen.

Meta to acquire Moltbook, social network for AI agents

Meta is acquiring Moltbook, a social network where AI agents post and chat with each other. Meta says it is hiring Moltbook’s co-founders and expects the experimental platform could open new ways to develop AI agents that could do useful things on a person’s behalf.

Moltbook attracted viral attention earlier this year as an unusual Reddit-like hub for AI systems trading gossip. In a similar move, OpenAI, maker of ChatGPT, last month hired the creator of AI agent OpenClaw, the technology upon which Moltbook was built.