AAA said the national average price of regular gasoline fell to $4.07 per gallon, extending a three-week slide and putting the benchmark 9 cents below last Monday. The decline is giving drivers some relief at the pump, but not the kind that signals the market has settled.

The drop matters now because summer road trips are approaching, when gas prices tend to draw more attention from households planning longer drives. AAA also put the average price in New York State at $4.36 per gallon, down 9 cents from last week, showing that the easing is not limited to one part of the country.

The latest move has been tied to news of a breakthrough agreement between the U.S. and Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a route that matters to oil flows and, in turn, to what drivers pay. That link helps explain why gas prices have fallen so quickly, even as the broader energy market still looks unsettled.

That is where the caution comes in. AAA said it could still take months to get back to normal and warned that oil prices may not stabilize right away. In other words, the price at the pump is moving in the right direction, but not yet fast enough to promise a clean break from the volatility that has defined the market.

The immediate question is not whether gas prices are easing — they are — but how long the relief lasts once markets absorb the latest news. For drivers, that means the next few weeks may bring more movement, not less, even if the trend for now is lower.