US bringing seized tanker to port

WASHINGTON:

An oil tanker seized by American forces off the Venezuelan coast will be brought to a port in the United States, the White House said Thursday, as fears mount of open conflict between the two countries.

Washington took control of the tanker in a dramatic raid that saw US forces rope down from a helicopter onto the vessel in an operation that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said was aimed at leftist Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro's "regime."

President Donald Trump's administration has been piling pressure on Venezuela for months with a major naval build-up in the region that has been accompanied by strikes on alleged drug-trafficking boats that have killed close to 90 people.

Russian leader Vladimir Putin on Thursday expressed support during a phone call with his ally Maduro, but with Moscow's forces tied down in a grinding war in Ukraine, its capacity to provide aid is limited.