* Lawmakers say Trump prioritizes oil companies over

consumers

* Energy Secretary Chris Wright says $200-a-barrel oil

unlikely

* Oil prices up despite U.S. efforts to control them

(Adds White House comments paragraphs 7-8)

By Timothy Gardner and Susan Heavey

WASHINGTON, March 12 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald

Trump said on Thursday the United States stood to make

significant money from oil prices driven higher by the war with

Iran, prompting criticism from some lawmakers who accused him of

caring only about rich people.

Oil prices jumped more than 9% to $100 a barrel, as the

U.S.-Israeli war with Iran widened. Two crude tankers blazed in

an Iraqi port after a hit by suspected Iranian explosive-laden

boats, while scores of other oil-laden ships remained stranded

with the Strait of Hormuz shuttered.

Trump, a Republican, wrote on social media: "The United

States is the largest Oil Producer in the World, by far, so when

oil prices go up, we make a lot of money." But stopping Iran

from having nuclear weapons was far more important, he said.

U.S. Senator Mark Kelly, an Arizona Democrat, responded that

working Americans were being hurt by the war Trump started.

"The only ones benefiting from gas prices skyrocketing are

the big oil companies," Kelly, a potential presidential

candidate in 2028, wrote on X. "But it makes sense why Trump is

happy about it because he's only ever cared about rich people."

At least two other Democratic lawmakers, Representatives

Mark Pocan of Wisconsin and Don Beyer of Virginia, made similar

comments on X.

White House spokesman Kush Desai called the criticism of

Trump's comments "idiotic." Desai said that oil and gas prices

will decline after "short-term disruptions" from the U.S. and

Israeli war on Iran are over.

"The president's point was that the United States is now the

largest oil and gas producer in the world and a net oil exporter

thanks to this administration's energy dominance agenda," Desai

added.

U.S. GASOLINE PRICES RISE

Republican Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina, asked

about Trump's post, said while the president and his

administration may be taking a longer view of the war and costs,

most Americans were dealing with weekly budgets.

U.S. gasoline prices continue to spike 13 days into the war,

even after more than 30 countries in the International Energy

Agency, including the U.S., announced a release of a record 400

million barrels of oil from global reserves.

In another attempt to control prices, the Trump

administration is considering waiving a shipping rule known as

the Jones Act temporarily to ensure energy and agricultural

products can move freely between ​U.S. ports, the White House

said. Waiving the rule would allow foreign ships to ​carry fuel

between U.S. ​ports, potentially lowering ⁠costs and speeding

deliveries.

Trump told Reuters in an interview earlier this month that

he was not concerned about rising gas prices and that they would

fall "very rapidly" when the conflict ends, something energy

analysts have disputed as the war stretches toward a second full

week.

$200 OIL UNLIKELY, ENERGY CHIEF SAYS

Energy Secretary Chris Wright said on Thursday that oil

prices were unlikely to reach $200 a barrel.

"I would say unlikely, but we are focused on the military

operation and solving a problem," Wright told CNN when asked if

prices would reach $200 a barrel - a level that an Iranian

official said prices could hit if the war further escalates.

Wright's use of the word "unlikely" was a veiled concession

that a spike to $200 was possible, though he repeated that the

price jump would last weeks, not months.

Brent oil hit all-time highs in 2008 of around $147 per

barrel, on tension between the West and Iran over its nuclear

program, a weak U.S. dollar and inflation fears.

This time, analysts say, oil prices could remain high

because of the strait's unprecedented shuttering. Iran's new

Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said on Thursday the strait

should remain closed as a pressure tool.

"Get ready for the oil barrel to be at $200 because the oil

price depends on the regional security which you have

destabilized," Ebrahim Zolfaqari, the spokesperson for Tehran's

Khatam al-Anbiya military command headquarters, said on

Wednesday.

Wright told CNN: "We're in the midst of a significant

disruption in the short term to fix the security of energy flow

for the long term." The administration was focused on "pragmatic

solutions ... to get through these few weeks of tight energy

supply," he said.

On Wednesday, Trump urged oil companies to travel through

the strait despite the risks. "I think they should use the

strait," Trump said. Asked if Iranian mines were in the strait,

he added: "We don't think so."

Wright told CNBC on Thursday that the U.S. Navy cannot

escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz now but it was "quite

likely" that could happen by the end of the month.

He said the energy shortages were less likely to affect

the U.S. and other Western Hemisphere countries. "There's no

shortage or even really tight oil market in the Western

Hemisphere. The issue's in Asia," Wright said.