WASHINGTON, Aug 25 (Reuters) - U.S. CIA Director John Ratcliffe traveled to Moscow on Tuesday for meetings with Russian officials, U.S. media outlets reported, citing unnamed sources.

The visit would be the first known visit to the Russian capital by a U.S. spy chief since Ratcliffe's predecessor, William Burns, held talks with Vladimir Putin in November 2021. About three months after that meeting, the Russian president launched Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

Aug 25 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that all mines had been detonated or removed from international waters of the Strait of Hormuz and that Iran has been told that any ship or boat placing new mines will be destroyed.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump said the United States, through its Space Force, was watching "every square inch" of the Strait, a key waterway in the global energy supply chain.

"There is a Zero Tolerance policy on mine placement in full force and effect," Trump said.

Long queues formed at petrol stations in Tehran on Tuesday after the United States announced fresh sanctions aimed at pressuring Iran into submission.

Washington has turned to pulling economic levers six months into a war on Iran that has ground to a stalemate, with peace talks stalled and most traffic through the crucial Strait of Hormuz blocked.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Monday laid out plans for the "economic asphyxiation" of Iran, saying the "objective is to sever every economic lifeline that sustains this tyrannical regime".

BANGKOK, Aug 25 (Reuters) - The U.S. aircraft carrier the USS Abraham Lincoln will dock in Thailand next week, a Thai official said on Tuesday, following a prolonged deployment in the Middle East and reports of mental health concerns and deteriorating conditions aboard.

The Lincoln, which left the Middle East on Saturday, has not made a port call in more ⁠than ​200 days, setting a modern-day record for consecutive ​days at sea, according to Democratic lawmakers.

Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday attacked AFP journalists reporting on tension with Palestinians, in violence that left at least five people injured, the reporters and medics said.

A three-person team from the international news agency had travelled to the village of Jannatah near Bethlehem to report on Israeli activists who conduct solidarity visits to support Palestinians facing harassment by Israeli settlers, who recently blocked a road in the area.

LONDON, Aug 25 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced what his department called "an economic onslaught" against Iran on Monday that combined new sanctions with threats against Tehran's trading partners.

His statement stopped short of some of the most punishing sanctions and did not list specific countries that would be targeted, or when those penalties would take effect.

Here's a summary of actions he announced:

PRESSING OTHER GOVERNMENTS, INCLUDING WITH THREATS OF NEW SANCTIONS

Israeli forces took control of a vocational training centre run by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees in an east Jerusalem suburb on Tuesday, in its latest move targeting the beleaguered organisation.

The raid drew condemnation from UN chief Antonio Guterres, and followed warnings by UNRWA that Israeli authorities were threatening its Qalandia training centre, located between the east Jerusalem neighbourhood of Kafr Aqab and the Qalandia refugee camp.

(Fixes hyperlink in paragraph 7)

CAIRO, Aug 24 (Reuters) - Israeli airstrikes and gunfire killed two young children and at least two other Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Monday, health officials in the territory said.

Medics and relatives said 10-year-old Amal Abu Khater was hit by a bullet in her back while she was eating inside her family's tent in the enclave's southern city of Khan Younis. The fire came from Israeli forces to the east, they added.

The Israeli military said it was not aware of any incident involving a 10-year-old girl.

The United Nations and the Red Cross warned Tuesday that the world is "dangerously close" to a future where so-called "killer

ISLAMABAD, Aug 25 (Reuters) - Pakistan and Iran made "significant progress" in talks that focused on the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran and a path to peace, Pakistan's interior minister said on Tuesday, at the end of a visit to Tehran.

Talks between the two sides focused on measures to prevent further escalation, reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and an expedited termination of the conflict, a statement from the Pakistani military said about the meeting between the country's army chief, Asim Munir, and the Iranian leadership.