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(CNN) -- [Breaking news update at 9:45 p.m. ET Thursday]
U.S. President Barack Obama said Thursday he'd authorized targeted airstrikes in Iraq to protect American personnel.
"We do whatever is necessary to protect our people. We support our allies when they're in danger," Obama said.
Obama also said he'd authorized targeted airstrikes "if necessary" to help forces in Iraq fighting to protect civilians trapped in the mountains as brutal Islamist fighters advance.
"When we have the unique capabilities to help avert a massacre, then I believe the United States of America cannot turn a blind eye," Obama said.
[Original story, posted at 9:26 p.m. ET Thursday]
U.S. drops humanitarian aid in Iraq
(CNN) -- The United States has airdropped meals and water in Iraq, sending aid to minority groups trapped as brutal Islamist fighters advance.
"The mission was conducted by a number of U.S. military aircraft under the direction of U.S. Central Command," a senior U.S. defense official said. "The aircraft that dropped the humanitarian supplies have now safely exited the immediate airspace over the drop area."
And U.S. President Barack Obama -- scheduled to give a statement on Iraq at 9:30 p.m. ET Thursday -- is weighing a key question: Should airstrikes be next?
Why is the United States sending aid and considering airstrikes?
Rapid developments on the ground, where a humanitarian crisis is emerging with minority groups facing possible slaughter by Sunni Muslim extremists, have set the stage for an increasingly dire situation.
"The latest news just might meet the threshold for action," a U.S. official told CNN.
Thousands of families from the Yazidi minority are reportedly trapped in the mountains without food, water or medical care after fleeing the rampaging fighters of the Islamic State, also known as Islamic State of Iraq and Syria or ISIS.
Throngs of refugees, many of them Iraqi Christians, are on the run -- their largest city now occupied by fighters who gave them an ultimatum, "Convert to Islam or die."
Defense officials say the airstrikes the President and his national security team are weighing would be primarily to protect American consular staff and military advisers working with the Iraqi military in Irbil, the largest city in Iraq's Kurdish region.
The United States is also concerned that ISIS could make a move against the several dozen U.S. military advisers there, a Pentagon official said.
U.S. officials were tight-lipped about their plans Thursday, but a Pentagon official stressed that any reports that the United States had conducted airstrikes in Iraq were "completely false."
Asked about the possibility of U.S. airstrikes, a top Iraqi diplomat said it had been discussed.
"There is some communication between Baghdad and Washington on that issue, but no strike has been done yet," said Mohammad Ali Al-Hakim, Iraq's Ambassador to the United Nations.
A potential escalation of U.S. military involvement comes two years after Obama ended the Iraq war and brought home American forces.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters Thursday that any potential U.S. action in Iraq would be limited, with no chance of ground troops heading back.
He said the principle for taking a military step would be threats to core American interests or U.S. personnel in Iraq.
Refusing to offer details on what options were being considered, Earnest described the current situation in Iraq as "disturbing," with "innocent populations persecuted just because of their ethnic identity."
U.S. President Barack Obama said Thursday he'd authorized targeted airstrikes in Iraq to protect American personnel.
"We do whatever is necessary to protect our people. We support our allies when they're in danger," Obama said.
Obama also said he'd authorized targeted airstrikes "if necessary" to help forces in Iraq fighting to protect civilians trapped in the mountains as brutal Islamist fighters advance.
"When we have the unique capabilities to help avert a massacre, then I believe the United States of America cannot turn a blind eye," Obama said.
[Original story, posted at 9:26 p.m. ET Thursday]
U.S. drops humanitarian aid in Iraq
(CNN) -- The United States has airdropped meals and water in Iraq, sending aid to minority groups trapped as brutal Islamist fighters advance.
"The mission was conducted by a number of U.S. military aircraft under the direction of U.S. Central Command," a senior U.S. defense official said. "The aircraft that dropped the humanitarian supplies have now safely exited the immediate airspace over the drop area."
And U.S. President Barack Obama -- scheduled to give a statement on Iraq at 9:30 p.m. ET Thursday -- is weighing a key question: Should airstrikes be next?
Why is the United States sending aid and considering airstrikes?
Rapid developments on the ground, where a humanitarian crisis is emerging with minority groups facing possible slaughter by Sunni Muslim extremists, have set the stage for an increasingly dire situation.
"The latest news just might meet the threshold for action," a U.S. official told CNN.
Thousands of families from the Yazidi minority are reportedly trapped in the mountains without food, water or medical care after fleeing the rampaging fighters of the Islamic State, also known as Islamic State of Iraq and Syria or ISIS.
Throngs of refugees, many of them Iraqi Christians, are on the run -- their largest city now occupied by fighters who gave them an ultimatum, "Convert to Islam or die."
Defense officials say the airstrikes the President and his national security team are weighing would be primarily to protect American consular staff and military advisers working with the Iraqi military in Irbil, the largest city in Iraq's Kurdish region.
The United States is also concerned that ISIS could make a move against the several dozen U.S. military advisers there, a Pentagon official said.
U.S. officials were tight-lipped about their plans Thursday, but a Pentagon official stressed that any reports that the United States had conducted airstrikes in Iraq were "completely false."
Asked about the possibility of U.S. airstrikes, a top Iraqi diplomat said it had been discussed.
"There is some communication between Baghdad and Washington on that issue, but no strike has been done yet," said Mohammad Ali Al-Hakim, Iraq's Ambassador to the United Nations.
A potential escalation of U.S. military involvement comes two years after Obama ended the Iraq war and brought home American forces.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters Thursday that any potential U.S. action in Iraq would be limited, with no chance of ground troops heading back.
He said the principle for taking a military step would be threats to core American interests or U.S. personnel in Iraq.
Refusing to offer details on what options were being considered, Earnest described the current situation in Iraq as "disturbing," with "innocent populations persecuted just because of their ethnic identity."
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