LONDON, Sept 3 (Reuters) - Britain's foreign minister said on Wednesday Islamic State's seizure of a British hostage did not make airstrikes on the militants more likely, but said he wasn't ruling that option out.
"It doesn't make any difference at all to our strategic planning," Britain's Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond told reporters. "If we judge that air strikes could be beneficial ... then we will certainly consider them. But we have made no decision to do so at the moment."
Hammond spoke of a failed attempt to rescue the British hostage and said a preliminary government analysis showed the video released late on Tuesday of an American journalist Steven Sotloff being beheaded was genuine.
(Reporting by William James and Michael Holden; Editing by Andrew Osborn)
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