Asked by a reporter whether there was anything the Assad regime could do to stop an American-led attack, Kerry said, ”Sure, he could turn over every single bit of his chemical weapons to the international community in the next week — turn it over, all of it without delay and allow the full and total accounting [of it]. But he isn’t about to do it, and it can’t be done.”

“Secretary Kerry was making a rhetorical argument about the impossibility and unlikelihood of Assad turning over chemical weapons he has denied he used,” said a State Department spokesperson in a statement later.