UN nuclear chief Mohamed ElBaradei sees "war drums (from those) who are basically saying the solution is to bomb Iran." (Xinhua Photo/Reuters)

    WASHINGTON, Sept. 7 (Xinhua) -- The United States rejected on Friday UN nuclear chief Mohamed ElBaradei's suggestion that Washington is preparing a military attack on Iran.

    "We are working with our partners in other parts of the world to deal with the consequences of Iran's state sponsorship of terrorism," State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey told reporters.

    But "We're pursuing a diplomatic track with Iran. We are engaging with our Security Council partners and the IAEA. We've been doing so for a number of years," Casey noted.

    "There is no change in U.S. policy," the spokesman said.

    "While no U.S. president ever takes any options off the table, our approach has been and is and as far as I know, until you hear differently from the president, will continue to be one of using diplomacy, using all the tools in the diplomatic tool box to try and convince Iran to change its behavior."

    Casey made the remarks after Mohamed ElBaradei, chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency, suggested that Washington is preparing a military attack on Iran.

    ElBaradei told reporters in Vienna that "Iran is moving with its (uranium) enrichment without us doing the robust verification required."

    But, the UN nuclear chief said "On the other hand I see war drums (from those) who are basically saying the solution is to bomb Iran," which is believed to be an implicit attack on the Bush administration which has refused to rule out military action against Iran.

    "I would certainly hope that those kinds of comments wouldn't be referred to the United States, because they certainly wouldn't be true," said Casey. 

    U.S. court fines Iran $2.65 bln for 1983 Lebanon attack

    WASHINGTON, Sept. 7 (Xinhua) -- A U.S. federal court ruled on Friday that Iran must pay 2.65 billion dollars to the family members of the 241 U.S. servicemen killed in the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon.

    "The court hopes that this extremely sizable judgment will serve to aid in the healing process for these plaintiffs, and simultaneously sound an alarm to the defendants that their unlawful attacks on our citizens will not be tolerated," federal judge Royce Lamberth said in his ruling from a federal court in Washington D.C.