On the eve of autumn, with American drivers facing record-high gasoline prices over Labor Day weekend, Energy Secretary Chris Wright offered a calm but puzzling reassurance: relief, he suggested, was more likely than further pain. His remarks came against the backdrop of escalating US-Iran tensions — a geopolitical undercurrent that has long unsettled energy markets — and raised the enduring question of how much any official can truly steer the story of fuel costs in a volatile world.