US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Thursday that the United States did not have on its agenda the option of military action against Iran to curb its nuclear programs "at this point."
"We are on a diplomatic track and it's not on the agenda at this point to move from that diplomatic track," Rice said in an interview with CBS Evening News.
Asked if Washington ruled out using force to curb Iran's nuclear programs, Rice said, "The president of the United States never takes any of his options off the table and nobody would want the president to do that."
Prior to the interview, Rice told a news briefing that Iran is in "dangerous defiance" of the international community and must now be sent to the United Nations Security Council for possible sanctions.
Nonetheless, Rice also insisted that Washington wants "a peaceful diplomatic solution to this issue, which spares the world from the threat posed by a nuclear armed Iran."
Earlier on Thursday, Britain, France and Germany said that Iran's case should be referred to the UN Security Council as their talks over curbing Iran's nuclear programs had reached a "dead end."
Washington has been accusing Iran of secretly developing nuclear weapons, but Iran slams the charge as politically motivated, insisting that its legal rights on peaceful nuclear technology are undeniable.