White House: Obama believes U.S. should keep all options open on Iran

U.S. President Barack Obama believes that the United States should preserve all its options on Iran, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said on Thursday.

"The president hasn't changed his viewpoint that he should preserve all his options," Gibbs said in response to a question on whether Obama's view was that the military option remained on the table.

Obama's predecessor, George W. Bush, had always insisted that all options, including military action, remained on the table in dealing with Iran, though he said he was seeking a diplomatic solution.

Gibbs also dismissed a British newspaper report that the Obama administration was drafting a letter to Iran from the president aimed thawing relations between the two arch-foes.

"Neither the president nor the secretary of state has seen such a letter," Gibbs told a news conference. "So I think that sort of closes the book on that."

According to Gibbs, Obama also believes the U.S. must use "all elements" of its national power in its dealings with Iran, including diplomacy.

But one problem for the Obama administration was trying to establish who to speak to in Iran, Gibbs said, referring to the multiple centers of power in Tehran.

"We have many issues to work through - an illicit nuclear program, the sponsorship of terrorism and the threatening of peace in Israel are just a few of the issues that this president believes the Iranian leadership must address," Gibbs told the news conference.

"It is unclear who exactly that dialogue would be with in Iran," he said.