Iran live updates: 1st purported message from new supreme leader read on state TV

A ship was reported to have been hit early on Thursday by a projectile near the Strait of Hormuz, a few hours after two ships were similarly struck in the Persian Gulf off the coast of Iraq, according to the U.K. Maritime Trade Center, a tracking organization.

The vessel was struck by an "unknown" projectile 35 nautical miles north of Jebel Ali, the United Arab Emirates, causing a small fire on board, according to the UKMTO.

Two tankers were also hit in the early hours of Thursday morning by "unknown" projectiles, leading to fires on board both ships, the UKMTO said in an earlier alert and update.

The vessels were hit off the coast approximately 5 nautical miles south of al Basrah, Iraq, according to the UKMTO. All crew members were evacuated, the organization said.

-ABC News' Zoe Magee

Pentagon officials told a group of senators in a closed-door briefing on Tuesday that the war in Iran cost at least $11.3 billion in its first six days, three people familiar with the briefing told ABC News.

The New York Times first reported the briefing and the $11.3 billion figure.

Senators on the Defense Appropriations subcommittee received the briefing, a source confirmed. Sen. Chris Coons, the top Democrat on that subcommittee, told reporters on Wednesday that the $11.3 billion estimate he had seen publicly reported was "roughly accurate."

"I expect that the current total operating number is significantly above that," Coons said when pressed on whether that figure took into account things like military buildup.

Coons also said that while the cost per day is not a "steady state," to "assume that it is well above a billion and a half a day I think would be a fair guess."

The money that has so far been spent to fund operations in Iran comes out of Pentagon funds already allocated by Congress. Congress has not yet approved any additional funding for Iran, and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle say that the White House has not yet made a request for supplemental funding.

The Department of Energy announced today that it has been authorized by President Donald Trump to release 172 million barrels from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve, starting next week, in an effort to lower gas and oil prices amid the war in Iran.

"This will take approximately 120 days to deliver based on planned discharge rates," Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in a statement Wednesday.

The statement added that this was part of the International Energy Agency's agreement announced earlier Wednesday to coordinate the release of 400 million barrels of oil.

In an interview with local CBS affiliate WKRC in Ohio earlier Wednesday, Trump said that they would tap into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in an effort to bring gas and oil prices down.

"Well, we'll do that, and then we'll fill it up. I filled it up once, and I'll fill it up again. But right now, we'll reduce it a little bit, and that brings the prices down," Trump said.

New Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei was injured during the opening U.S.-Israeli strikes at the beginning of the war, Israeli sources told ABC News.

One Israeli source familiar with the matter said that his injuries include a fractured foot, bruising around his left eye and lacerations to his face. A second Israeli source said that Mojtaba was wounded with a leg injury and light facial injuries.

Khamenei's condition has been referenced on state television and the state news agency IRNA, which called him the "wounded war veteran" supreme leader.