Trump's oil investments have gained millions during Iran war as his accounts keep trading

As President Donald Trump's wartime directives in Iran repeatedly jolted global markets, his personal energy portfolio surged.

Throughout the first six months of fighting, Trump's investment accounts continued aggressively trading energy stocks. Between the eve of the war, on Feb. 27, and Aug. 31, his nine largest oil and gas holdings gained approximately $1.5 million to $4.4 million, according to a CNBC analysis of his annual financial disclosure, quarterly corporate reports and FactSet market data.

CNBC identified the nine holdings by aggregating Trump's year-end 2025 positions in the same oil and gas companies across his investment accounts and ranking them by their disclosed value. They are: Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil, Kinder Morgan, Marathon Petroleum, Occidental Petroleum, Phillips 66, Valero Energy and the Williams Companies.

CNBC calculated the range of gains using the minimum and maximum values Trump disclosed for each holding and their share-price changes from market close on Feb. 27 through market close on Aug. 31.

Trump's accounts reported purchases and at least 23 sales involving the nine companies through June 29, which is the most recent date Trump has disclosed any trades. Because the filings do not disclose exact share counts, execution prices or which shares were sold, the estimates do not represent realized profits or Trump's precise current holdings.

CNBC found no evidence that Trump or his investment managers traded on advance knowledge of his decisions, that his financial interests influenced policy, or that he directed any specific transaction.

"Neither President Trump nor any member of his family has any ability to direct, influence, or provide input regarding how the portfolio is invested or when investments are bought or sold," White House spokesman Davis Ingle told CNBC in response to questions about Trump's energy investments. "All investment decisions are made entirely by independent managers. There are no conflicts of interest."

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

Still, the filings are the latest example of Trump holding a multimillion-dollar financial stake in an industry directly affected by his administration's military and diplomatic decisions.

"When a president can move a market through official decisions and personally benefit from the result, the public is left wondering where national policy ends and private financial interest begins," said Donald Sherman, president and CEO of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a liberal-leaning government ethics watchdog.

Trump made profits from his oil-industry holdings as he publicly blasted Exxon and Chevron by name for "making too much money based on a shortage."

"I don't like it," Trump told reporters Aug. 3, days after they reported soaring second-quarter profits. "Chevron, too much money. ExxonMobil, too much money ... They're going to give some of that back to the public and they better cut the retail price, the consumer price."

Despite Trump's misgivings and his accounts having outside managers, ethics experts say outsourcing daily trading doesn't erase the underlying conflict of interest.

"A discretionary account is a smokescreen, not a blind trust," said Scott Greytak, deputy executive director of Transparency International U.S., a nonpartisan, nonprofit anti-corruption organization.

"Someone else might be executing the trades, but [Trump] still knows he is heavily invested in energy," Greytak told CNBC. "Trump likely knows where his money is parked and would still see the upside when his administration's actions send those [energy] stocks climbing."

Trump's accounts repeatedly traded energy stocks on days when wartime developments sent markets swinging.

On March 2, the first trading day after the initial U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran, Trump's accounts reported purchases of shares in eight major oil and gas companies, including buying between $100,001 and $250,000 of shares in Exxon.

Trump entered the war with between $3.2 million and $12.5 million invested in Exxon, according to his financial disclosures. By market close on Aug. 31, the rise in Exxon's share price had added an estimated $176,000 to $690,000 to that initial stake, before accounting for later trades, based on a CNBC analysis of Trump's holdings and share prices.

"Everything that has happened with oil has been directly tied to the largest oil supply disruption in history from the war," said Pavel Molchanov, a senior investment strategist who covers the energy sector at Raymond James & Associates. "Oil is a global commodity, so no one is immune from price increases."

Three weeks after the March 2 purchases, on March 23, Trump postponed threatened strikes on Iranian energy infrastructure before the market opened, citing "very good and productive conversations."

Brent crude plunged nearly 11% on the prospect of de-escalation. That day, Trump's accounts reported 16 oil and gas stock buys and no sales, worth a combined approximately $163,000 to $570,000, including shares of Exxon, Chevron and Phillips 66.

"Trump's work to get a ceasefire directly played into investment decisions his accounts were pursuing and benefiting for the president," Greytak told CNBC.

The timing of sales is equally striking, watchdogs say.

On April 7, a Trump investment account reported selling between $500,001 and $1 million in Exxon shares. A little more than two and a half hours after the market closed, Trump announced a two-week ceasefire with Iran.

Exxon opened more than 6% lower the next morning. If the shares sold had been held since before the war, CNBC estimates that, in addition to averting the next day's loss, they had gained roughly $35,000 to $70,000 since Feb. 27. The disclosures do not identify the purchase dates for the shares that were sold, so the estimate does not represent the transaction's actual profit.

In all, Trump's accounts reported at least 23 sales involving the nine companies through June 29, the latest transaction date disclosed. If those shares had been held since before the war, CNBC estimates they would have been worth $36,000 to $95,000 more when sold than on Feb. 27 — a fraction of the larger paper gains Trump continued to hold.

"The optics of avoiding thousands in losses right before a market-moving announcement are impossible to defend," Sherman told CNBC. "The selling is just the tip of the iceberg."

Democratic staff on the congressional Joint Economic Committee estimated in an August report that Trump's broader oil and gas portfolio had increased in value by as much as $15.5 million this year.

"Donald Trump held millions in oil and gas company stocks at the end of 2025. Today, those stocks are worth as much as $15.5 million more," Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., wrote on X following the report. "What happened? He started a war with Iran this year — and sent oil and gas stocks soaring."

Trump's energy holdings are part of broader financial interests related to the Middle East, including tens of millions of dollars in income from a booming foreign real-estate licensing business.

Several congressional Democrats have raised the prospect of investigating Trump's stock trading and his family's business ventures if they win control of either chamber of Congress in November's midterm election.

On Aug. 27, Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., opened an investigation into 1789 Capital, where Donald Trump Jr. is a partner, alleging the firm benefited from Trump administration contracts, funding and regulatory actions. Trump Jr. told The Guardian the allegations were "unsubstantiated talking points."

The war's disruptions have delivered a windfall for oil companies while driving up costs for consumers.

The nine energy companies in Trump's portfolio reported a combined $47.6 billion in second-quarter profit, triple the $15.9 billion they earned a year earlier, according to a CNBC analysis of company filings.

Exxon and Chevron, Trump's two largest energy holdings, reported a combined $26.6 billion in profit, up from $9.6 billion a year earlier as higher oil prices and refining margins lifted earnings. Marathon, Phillips 66 and Valero, three refiners in his portfolio, collectively reported another $12.7 billion in combined second-quarter profit.

The forces driving those profits — and raising costs for consumers — could persist. On Exxon's July 31 earnings call, CEO Darren Woods said refining capacity relative to demand was the tightest he had seen outside the pandemic. "These high margins lead to high product prices," he said.

Phillips 66 CEO Mark Lashier struck a similar note Aug. 5 in his company's earnings call, saying refining conditions would remain strong "even if peace broke out tomorrow."

That could prove politically toxic in the midterm election, based on polling.

Affordability issues such as gas prices are dominating the midterm campaign: 48% of Americans rank the cost of living as their top voting issue, while 70% disapprove of Trump's handling of it, according to an early August Reuters/Ipsos poll of 4,505 general population adults aged 18 or older, with a margin of error of plus or minus 1.5 percentage points.

Even after a recent pullback, U.S. crude traded around $91 on Friday, 36% above prewar levels. Gas averaged $4.09 nationally, with the Labor Day weekend expected to be the most expensive ever for gas, according to AAA.

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

"When the war ends, oil prices — and likely energy stocks — should fall," Raymond James' Molchanov told CNBC. "But when that happens is ultimately a political decision."