The US seizure of an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela targeted leftist leader Nicolas Maduro's "regime," Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Thursday, as fears of open conflict mount in both Washington and Caracas.

Washington seized the tanker in a dramatic raid Wednesday that saw US forces fast-rope out of a helicopter onto the massive vessel, which the United States says was part of a network that smuggled sanctioned crude.

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 Venezuelan ally Maduro, b

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