President Barack Obama said in a primetime speech on Tuesday night that while he wants to punish Syrian President Bashar al Assad's use of chemical weapons, he would put off a military strike and work with Russia in a deal, NBC News reported.

"Sometimes resolutions and statements of condemnation are simply not enough. What kind of world will we live in if the United States of America sees a dictator brazenly violate international law with poison gas and we choose to look the other way?", the president asked.

Obama said he would work with other countries to pressure Syria to put its chemical weapons under international control and ultimately destroy them.

"The United States military doesn't do pinpricks. Even a limited strike will send a message to Assad that no other nation can deliver."

Earlier on Monday, Secretary of State John Kerry responded to reporter Margaret Brennan's question to how best Assad could avert a military strike: Assad could give up all of his weapons, he responded. 

Analysts contend that President Putin's outreach to the Syrian government to relinquish chemical weapons is merely to disallow the U.S. from attacking the regime in any way.