AFP - The White House said Thursday it was looking at options after a military judge rejected President Barack Obama's request to suspend the trial of a Saudi accused in the 2000 attack on the USS Cole.

"We've just learned of the ruling here, as you did. And we are consulting with the Pentagon and the Department of Justice to explore our options in that case," said White House spokesman Robert Gibbs.

Earlier the Pentagon said that a military judge at Guantanamo Bay rejected Obama's request to suspend the trial of Saudi defendant Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, 43.

"Judge James Pohl denied the motion" put forward by the prosecution at Obama's request to suspend the trial for 120 days, said Defense Department spokesman J.D. Gordon, confirming a report by The Washington Post.

The Post added the Pohl had found the government's argument "unpersuasive."

The paper said the decision threw into disarray the administration's plan to buy time to review the cases against some 245 prisoners still held in the Guantanamo Bay camp in southern Cuba.