Obama doesn't rule out air strikes in Iraq

Washington vowed June 12 to boost aid to Iraq and is mulling drone strikes amid fears Iraqi forces are crumbling in face of militants increasingly emboldened since the U.S. withdrawal.

President Barack Obama announced that the United States is "looking at all the options" on Iraq. "I don't rule anything out," Obama said when asked whether the United States is considering drone strikes or any other action to stop the insurgency, while speaking to reporters at the White House as he met Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott.

He said there will be short-term immediate actions that need to be done militarily in Iraq, and that his national security team is looking at all options. He said the U.S. is prepared to take military action when its national security interests are threatened. 

The United States is not contemplating sending ground troops to Iraq to help quell an insurgency there, White House spokesman Jay Carney said. He said Obama was referring to not ruling out air strikes.

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, meanwhile, called for the "safe and immediate" return of 49 Turkish citizens kidnapped from the consulate in Mosul.

During a call with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Biden said "the United States is prepared to support Turkey's efforts to bring about the safe return of its citizens." 

Iraqi officials have already privately asked the U.S. to consider sending in drones to root out jihadists from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), who in a lightning offensive have seized a swathe of the north.

The request has been turned down in the past, but Washington is now weighing several possibilities for more military assistance to Baghdad, including drone strikes, a U.S...