Exclusive: Trump adviser ties high gas prices to refining

The affordability of gasoline remains "the top issue that the president looks at," Trump energy adviser Jarrod Agen said at an Axios House event Tuesday.

Why it matters: The Trump administration is championing energy savings from its deregulatory push as overseas conflicts, including the Iran war, rattle oil markets, driving up fuel costs and threatening an expensive winter for millions of households.

Tuesday's national average gas price was roughly $4.48, up from around $3.18 a year ago, per AAA .

Driving the news: Asked by Axios' Amy Harder if the president takes responsibility for the higher prices Americans are paying, Agen said that the president's "long-term goal is preventing Iran" from having "nuclear capabilities." "He says the long term is worth it to stop them from having a nuclear weapon." Flashback: Asked last year what a successful term would look like once the administration's time in Washington is up, Agen told Axios' Mike Allen that the one factor the president always looks at is the price at the pump.

"We want to make sure that U.S. consumers are paying not high prices on their electricity bills and gas," he said.

"That is the key that ... drives us every single day." Zoom in: Pressed on those remarks, Agen told Harder it's "still the top issue the president looks at" and attributed the price pain to strained refining capacity.

"We've got crude flowing," he said, though the full picture of how much oil is leaving the Strait of Hormuz isn't yet entirely clear .

"More crude is on the market, and so that's great.

But refining capacity is the issue we're trying to solve, both domestically and then globally," Agen said.

"If you look at refining capacity, Russia, for example, it's down 30, 40% China is not at their capacity." He floated the possibility of relief via the Defense Production Act, which Trump already invoked , and infrastructure projects "to attack the refining issue." Catch up quick: The national average diesel price shattered its record earlier this month and then topped $6 a gallon for the first time, threatening higher inflation and household costs amid already elevated fuel prices.

An estimate from Brown University found that the war in Iran has cost U.S. consumers more than $100 billion in higher energy prices, adding to the administration's affordability challenges ahead of the midterms as Republicans fight to retain control of Congress.

Disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz and other compounding crises have put American refineries operating near maximum capacity to an unprecedented test and raised questions about whether the administration would place an export ban on American diesel.