'Obama not ruling out striking Iran'

US President Barack Obama is not ruling out military strikes against Iran to stop its nuclear program, the White House said Thursday.

Asked if the military option was still on the table, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said: "The president hasn't changed his viewpoint that he should preserve all his options."

Gibbs told reporters that Obama believes "we must use all elements of our national power to protect our interests as it relates to Iran," he said.

"US drafts conciliatory letter to Iran," from the Jerusalem Post, January 29:

The Obama administration is preparing a letter to Iran intended to warm relations and pave the way for direct talks between Washington and Teheran, The Guardian reported Thursday

US Denies Conciliatory Iran Letter Planned
By VOA News 29 January 2009

The U.S. State Department has denied a British newspaper report that the Obama administration is drafting a "conciliatory" letter to Iran.

White House and State Department spokesmen said Thursday nobody from the administration has asked anyone at either place to prepare such a letter.

Since a change in the constitution removed the post of Prime Minister and merged most of the prime ministerial duties with the President's in 1989, the once figurehead Presidential post has become a position of significant government influence. In addition, as the highest directly elected official in Iran, the President is responsive and responsible to public opinion in a way that the Supreme Leader is not. Although he is responsible to both people and the Supreme Leader, he is independent in his decisions and developing the policies of the government. The two terms of President Mohammad Khatami serve as an example of how independently a president can act in the Islamic Republic. Khatami changed many of the policies of the regime without the assistance of the Supreme leader,