MARSHALL — Motorists filling their vehicles on Friday reacted to prices at Marshall gas stations reaching $3.59 for a gallon of regular gasoline.

Gas prices have spiked due to war in Iran and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Normally, about 20 million barrels of oil pass through the Strait of Hormuz each day, but most tankers are now avoiding it, the Associated Press reported Thursday.

While some of the people filling up their tanks at the Kwik Trip on East College Drive in Marshall said they hadn’t felt too much of a squeeze from gas prices yet, they said high gas prices could have a wider effect.

“It’s definitely affecting businesses,” said Marshall resident Brian Ehlenbach, who was at the Kwik Trip on Friday morning.

Customers were also on the lookout for better gas prices. Things were busy at the Hy-Vee Fast & Fresh gas station in Marshall on Thursday, during a 12-hour fuel special.

On Friday, prices for regular gasoline at stations in cities like Marshall, Tracy and Granite Falls were reported at $3.59 per gallon, according to the GasBuddy website.

On its gas prices website, the American Automobile Association reported Thursday that the national average price for a gallon of regular gasoline, about $3.60, had jumped nearly 35 cents from the previous week. One month ago, the national average for regular gasoline was about $2.94 a gallon, AAA said.

The statewide average gas price for Minnesota was about $3.38 per gallon, AAA’s gas price website said Friday. The average price for a gallon of diesel fuel was about $4.52. The organization reported gas prices were lower in the northern half of Minnesota than in the southern half. The average price of gas in Lyon County on Friday was about $3.54 per gallon, AAA said.

Gasoline demand increases with the return of warmer weather in the spring, according to AAA. But the organization also said crude oil prices had risen past $100 per barrel multiple times in recent days. This week, U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright said the Department of Energy would release 172 million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, as part of an effort to offset energy prices.

Some customers filling up at gas stations in Marshall on Friday said they hadn’t felt big impacts from higher gas prices yet, especially if they didn’t commute very far.

“For me, I’m pretty lucky,” Ehlenbach said. “But in my industry, we do a lot of transportation.” Ehlenbach said he worked with the CentraCare ambulance service. Rising fuel costs were something that could have an impact on emergency medical service providers’ margins, he said.

On Friday, Marshall resident Ken Winn was refueling his truck, but also filling up a gas can for his snowblower, in anticipation of winter storms this weekend.

Although gas prices had gone up, Winn said he thought U.S. military action in Iran was worth it.

“It’s going up against tyranny,” Winn said.

“(Gas prices) will go back down again,” he said.