The Obama administration is urging Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi to hold early elections, but did not go as far as asking the president to step down immediately, CNN reports.
“We are saying to him, ‘Figure out a way to go for new elections,'” a senior official told CNN. “That may be the only way that this confrontation can be resolved.”
The administration also threatened the Egyptian military with revoking American aid if it carries out a military coup.
“We are trying to get President Morsi to appoint a new prime minister, a new Cabinet, and get rid of the prosecutor general,” a senior official told CNN. “This is the kind of outreach he needs to do to demonstrate to the opposition that he is governing all Egyptians. So far he hasn’t done anything to show that.”