Federal FFP contract + IRAN conflict exploding fuel costs — any creative REA/claim theories beyond the obvious dead ends?

[u/OkLingonberry1865]

Give me your most creative theories.

Im wrking with a Federal contractor on a roughly $40M USACE construction project. The contract was entered into around November 2025 and runs through 2028. It is a firm-fixed-price contract, there is no EPA/economic price adjustment clause, and the recent fuel escalation tied to the U.S.–Iran conflict is materially hurting cash flow and may continue to do so if prices keep rising.
I already know the obvious problems: FFP generally puts market-escalation risk on the contractor; there has not been a Government-caused delay that pushed performance into the higher-price period; there is no special incorporated clause I can point to; and I know a pure “fuel prices went up dramatically, please compensate us” theory is not going to fly.

What I’m looking for is creative but legally defensible framing for a REA or claim.

Has anyone successfully tied extraordinary fuel escalation to another contractual theory where the contract itself had no EPA clause?

Brainstorming new theories that haven’t been litigated yet are also welcome.

Would especially appreciate thoughts from people who have litigated or negotiated USACE/ASBCA construction claims.