President Trump’s oil investments reaped millions of dollars during the Iran war

His personal energy portfolio soared as President Donald Trump’s wartime directives against Iran repeatedly rattled global markets.

Throughout the first six months of the battle, Trump’s investment account continued to actively trade energy stocks. From February 27, on the eve of the war, to August 31, his nine largest oil and gas holdings increased by about $1.5 million to $4.4 million, according to a CNBC analysis of his annual financial disclosures, quarterly company reports and market data from FactSet.

CNBC identified nine holdings by aggregating President Trump’s positions in the same oil and gas companies at the end of 2025 across his investment accounts and ranking them by disclosed value. they are: chevron, conocophilips, exxon mobil, kinder morgan, marathon oil, western oil, phillips 66, valero energy and williams companies.

CNBC calculated the range of gains using the minimum and maximum values ​​Mr. Trump disclosed for each holding and the change in stock prices from the market close on February 27th to the market close on August 31st.

Mr. Trump’s accounts reported purchases involving nine companies and at least 23 sales through June 29, the most recent date Mr. Trump disclosed any transactions. This estimate does not represent realized profits or Mr. Trump’s exact current holdings, as the filing does not disclose the exact number of shares, the contract price or which shares were sold.

CNBC found no evidence that Trump or his investment managers traded with advance knowledge of Trump’s decisions, that Trump’s financial interests influenced policy, or that Trump directed any specific trades.

“Neither President Trump nor his family has the ability to direct, influence or provide input on how to invest his portfolio or when to buy or sell investments,” White House Press Secretary Davis Engle told CNBC in response to questions about Trump’s energy investments. “All investment decisions are made by completely independent managers. There are no conflicts of interest.”

The Trump Organization did not respond to multiple requests for comment on this story. The Trump Organization previously told CNBC that outside financial institutions manage personal investment decisions and that Trump’s assets are held in fully discretionary accounts that rely heavily on automated strategies.

Still, the filing is the latest example of President Trump owning multimillion-dollar stakes in industries directly affected by his administration’s military and diplomatic decisions.

“When a president is able to drive markets through public decisions and profit personally from the results, it leaves the public wondering where state policy ends and private economic interests begin,” said Donald Sherman, president and CEO of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a liberal-leaning government ethics watchdog.

Mr. Trump publicly accused Exxon and Chevron by name of “making too much money on scarcity” and benefited from their oil industry holdings.

“I don’t like it,” President Trump told reporters on August 3, just days after reporting a sharp rise in second-quarter profits. “Chevron, there’s too much money. ExxonMobil, there’s too much money…They’re going to give some of that back to the people, and they’d better lower retail prices, lower consumer prices.”

Despite concerns about Mr. Trump and the fact that his accounts have outside managers, ethics experts say outsourcing day-to-day trading does not eliminate the underlying conflict of interest.

“Discretionary accounts are not blind trusts; they are smokescreens,” said Scott Greitak, deputy executive director of Transparency International US, a nonpartisan, nonprofit anti-corruption group.

“Someone else may be executing the trades, but (Trump) still knows he’s investing heavily in energy,” Greitak told CNBC. “Trump probably knows where his money is and would still expect upside if (energy) stocks rise due to his administration’s actions.”

Mr. Trump’s account repeatedly traded energy stocks on days when markets were roiled by wartime developments.

On March 2, the first trading day after the first U.S. and Israeli attack on Iran, President Trump’s account reported purchases of stocks in eight major oil and gas companies, including purchases of Exxon stock worth between $100,001 and $250,000.

Mr. Trump entered the war by investing between $3.2 million and $12.5 million in Exxon, according to financial disclosures. By the market close on Aug. 31, the rise in Exxon’s stock price had added an estimated $176,000 to $690,000 to the original bet, before taking subsequent trades into account, based on a CNBC analysis of President Trump’s holdings and stock prices.

“Everything that’s happened with oil is directly tied to the largest disruption of oil supply in history due to war,” said Pavel Molchanov, senior investment strategist for energy at Raymond James & Associates. “Oil is a global commodity, so no one is immune to rising prices.”

On March 23, three weeks after the March 2 purchase, President Trump postponed a threatened attack on Iran’s energy infrastructure before markets opened, citing “very helpful and productive conversations.”

brent crude oil The outlook for a easing of tensions led to a plunge of nearly 11%. On that day, Mr. Trump’s account reported buying, but not selling, 16 oil and gas stocks, including 66 shares of Exxon, Chevron, and Phillips, worth a total of about $163,000 to $570,000.

“Mr. Trump’s efforts to achieve a ceasefire directly influenced the investment decisions that Mr. Trump’s accounts were pursuing and that were benefiting the president,” Greytak told CNBC.

The timing of the sale is equally surprising, according to watchdog groups.

On April 7, Trump’s investment account reported selling Exxon stock for between $500,001 and $1 million. More than two and a half hours after markets closed, President Trump announced a two-week ceasefire with Iran.

Exxon opened the next morning down more than 6%. CNBC estimates that if the sold stocks had been held before the war, they would have avoided the next day’s losses and made about $35,000 to $70,000 in profits since February 27. This estimate does not represent the actual profit of the transaction, as the disclosure does not specify the purchase date of the shares sold.

At least 23 sales involving nine companies were reported in Mr. Trump’s account through June 29, the most recent published trading date. CNBC estimates that if these stocks had been held before the war, they would have been worth $36,000 to $95,000 more at the time of sale than they were on Feb. 27. This represents a portion of the larger paper profits that President Trump continued to hold.

“It’s impossible to stick to the idea of ​​avoiding thousands of dollars in losses right before a market-moving announcement,” Sherman told CNBC. “Selling is just the tip of the iceberg.”

Democratic staff on the Congressional Joint Economic Committee estimated in an August report that the value of Mr. Trump’s extensive oil and gas portfolio has increased by as much as $15.5 million this year.

“Donald Trump owned millions of shares of oil and gas company stock at the end of 2025. Today, those shares are worth an additional $15.5 million,” Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren wrote in X in response to the report. “What happened? He started a war with Iran this year and caused oil and gas inventories to skyrocket.”

President Trump’s energy holdings are part of a wide range of financial interests tied to the Middle East, including tens of millions of dollars in income from a booming overseas real estate licensing business.

Several Democratic members of Congress have raised the possibility of investigating President Trump’s stock dealings and family businesses if he wins a majority in both chambers of Congress in November’s midterm elections.

On August 27, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) launched an investigation into 1789 Capital, in which Donald Trump Jr. is a partner, alleging that the firm benefited from Trump administration contracts, funding, and regulatory actions. Trump Jr. told the Guardian the allegations were a “baseless topic.”

The disruption caused by the war provided a windfall for oil companies, while raising costs for consumers.

The nine energy companies in President Trump’s portfolio totaled $47.6 billion in second-quarter profits, triple the $15.9 billion a year earlier, according to a CNBC analysis of company filings.

Exxon and Chevron, Trump’s two largest energy holdings, reported profits totaling $26.6 billion, up from $9.6 billion a year earlier, as higher oil prices and refining margins boosted profits. Three refineries in his portfolio, Marathon, Phillips 66 and Valero, combined for an additional $12.7 billion in second-quarter profits.

These forces driving profits and raising costs for consumers are likely to continue. Exxon CEO Darren Woods said on a July 31 earnings call that refining capacity relative to demand is the tightest the company has seen outside of the pandemic. “These high profit margins are leading to high product prices,” he said.

Phillips 66 CEO Mark Lasher made similar remarks during an August 5 earnings conference, saying that refining conditions would remain strong “even if peace started tomorrow.”

Based on opinion polls, that could prove politically detrimental in the midterm elections.

Affordability issues such as gas prices are dominating the midterm election campaign. A Reuters/Ipsos poll of 4,505 adults 18 and older conducted in early August found that 48% of Americans said the cost of living was a top voting issue, but 70% disapproved of cost-of-living measures, with a margin of error of plus or minus 1.5 percentage points.

Despite the recent pullback, U.S. crude oil traded around $91 on Friday, 36% above prewar levels. According to AAA, gas prices nationwide are expected to reach an all-time high over Labor Day weekend, with an average price of $4.09.

Since the war began, Americans have paid $71.5 billion more on gas, or about $604 per household, according to an analysis of federal and AAA data by Congressional Democratic staff on the Joint Economic Committee.

“Once the war ends, oil prices, and probably energy stocks, should fall as well,” Raymond James’ Molchanov told CNBC. “But when that happens is ultimately a political decision.”