Iran has again threatened to use oil as a weapon against the United States. Specifically, in a statement published in an Iranian newspaper Tuesday, Iran’s opec governor, Hossein Kazempour Ardebili, said: “When the Americans say that military action in regard to the nuclear issue has not been put aside, Iran can also say that it will not put aside oil as a tool.”

By making these comments, Iran is using oil as a weapon even now: Prices always go up when Iran makes comments that erode confidence in the energy supply. If Iran does stop exports, Ardebili says, “Definitely the market will be faced with a new shock and oil prices will increase strongly.” He expects oil prices would inflate to over $100 per barrel.

The biggest problem for the U.S. is that it’s no idle threat. Iran really can cause the supply of oil to drop and the price to go up—although some feel the U.S. isn’t as helpless as Iran represents. Because Iran doesn’t have the capacity to refine enough oil, about 40 percent of its gasoline is imported. U.S. officials have described this as leverage, a stance Ardebili dismisses because “the main producers of gasoline are members of opec and we will never have difficulties in regards to gasoline.” In other words, Iran gets its gasoline from other Muslims, not from the United States. This stance is somewhat undercut by Iran’s implementation of a rationing program, already affecting government vehicles and planned for the entire nation. Iran does have difficulty in regards to gasoline—only the United States imports more gas than Iran.

Ardebili added, “We believe energy supplies should be de-politicized as much as possible.” This, when Iran is already using oil as a potent political weapon, and the U.S. has already shown that it will not take the sort of action necessary to stop Iran’s nuclear threat.

This back and forth between the two nations guarantees one thing: Oil prices will stay high, and everyone will feel it at the pump.