Iran live updates: Khamenei says Iran will 'guard' nuclear, missile technologies

The head of U.S. Central Command said Wednesday that 42 ships have been turned back by the U.S. blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.

"Right now there are 41 tankers with 69 million barrels of oil that the Iranian regime can't sell. That's an estimated $6 billion-plus from which Iran's leadership cannot financially benefit," Adm. Brad Cooper said in a statement on X.

A U.S. official confirmed to ABC News a report from Iranian state media that six of the crew aboard the M/T Touska have been released by the U.S. Another 22 Iranian mariners remain in U.S. custody.

The Tasnim news agency said that some of the Iranian crew members had their families aboard the ship at the time that it was seized by the U.S. as it ignored warnings not to block the blockade.

-ABC News' Luis Martinez

The aircraft carrier USS Gerald R Ford and the destroyers USS Mahan, USS Winston S. Churchill, and USS Bainbridge, which make up the Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group, will be leaving the Middle East to return to the U.S. two U.S. officials told ABC News.

The Gerald R Ford is currently on the longest deployment for an aircraft carrier since the Vietnam War. After its original deployment to Europe it was sent to the Caribbean, then back to the Mediterranean for the start of the combat operations against Iran and then twice into the Red Sea.

The carrier is expected to return to its home port of Norfolk, Virginia, in the coming weeks, according to one of the officials.

The Gerald R Ford is currently in the CENTCOM area of responsibility along with two other aircraft carriers, including the USS Abraham Lincoln and the USS George HW Bush. It’s the first time there have been three aircraft carriers in the region since 2003.

-ABC News' Luis Martinez

President Donald Trump said that Iran has to "cry uncle" and say, "We give up," when asked how long he is prepared to maintain the naval blockade.

"Militarily, we've wiped them out. They have no military left there," Trump said while taking questions during an Oval Office event with the Artemis II astronauts. "The Navy's at the bottom of the sea. The Air Force is never going to fly again."

"Now they have to cry, uncle. That's all they have to do," he continued. "Just say, 'We give up. We give up.' But their economy is really in trouble. It's a dead economy."

The Pentagon's comptroller, Jay Hurst, told members of Congress that the cost of the Iran operation so far has been $25 billion.

It's the first public accounting disclosed by the Pentagon.

"At this day, we're spending about $25 billion on Operation Epic Fury. Most of that is in munitions," Hurst said during a House hearing on the Pentagon's budget request on Wednesday.

-ABC News' Steve Beynon and Chris Boccia