The White House has delayed plans to lift US travel restrictions to Libya after the Libyan prime minister denied his country's guilt in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing.
Washington immediately demanded a retraction of the comments by Prime Minister Shokri Ghanem, who said Tripoli had only agreed to pay compensation to bombing victims in order to "buy peace."
The US had been poised to ease the decades-old travel ban and take other steps on Tuesday to reward Libya for scrapping its nuclear arms programs. But officials said the announcement was put on hold in protest.
U.S. officials said they expected the Libyan government to issue a statement backing away from Mr Ghanem's comments. If it does so, the White House was likely to go forward with plans to lift the travel ban later this week.
"Libya made it very clear in their letter to the United Nations that it accepts responsibility for the actions of its officials on that very matter (Lockerbie). And I would expect Libya to make clear that that is still their position," said White House spokesman Mr Scott McClellan.
After years of negotiations, Libya agreed last year to pay $2.7 billion in compensation for Lockerbie victims, many of whom were Britons and Americans on Pan Am flight 103 when it was blown up over the Scottish town.
Unless Washington drops Libya from its state sponsors of terrorism list and ends its bilateral sanctions by April, Libya is entitled under a compensation deal reached last year to halve the $10 million payout it has promised relatives of each victim of the 1988 Lockerbie airliner bombing. However, that deadline can be extended if Libya and the relatives agree.