U.S. President Barack Obama said on Thursday that he won’t nominate Susan Rice, the current American ambassador to the United Nations, as his next secretary of state.

U.S. President Barack Obama said on Thursday that he won't nominate Susan Rice, the current American ambassador to the United Nations, as his next secretary of state.

"Today, I spoke to Ambassador Susan Rice, and accepted her decision to remove her name from consideration for secretary of state," the president said in a statement, bowing to opposition from some Republican senators over possible nomination of Rice to the post.

Rice, long considered a top candidate to be the country's top diplomat when Obama starts his second term in January, has came under scathing attacks by the Republicans over her description of the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, as one arising from a spontaneous protest over an American-made film that denigrated the Prophet Mohammed.

Critics said her remarks downplayed evidence of an obvious terrorist attack just weeks before the Nov. 6 presidential election.

The Obama administration later acknowledged the attack as a terrorist act carried out by militants linked to al-Qaida, in which four Americans were killed including Ambassador Christopher Stevens.

Rice's meetings face-to-face late last month with some of her critics have failed to blunt the criticism.

Both Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have come to the defense of Rice.

"While I deeply regret the unfair and misleading attacks on Susan Rice in recent weeks, her decision demonstrates the strength of her character," Obama said in his statement, adding that “Susan will continue to serve as our ambassador at the United Nations and a key member of my cabinet and national security team," Obama said.

Before taking the UN ambassadorial post in 2009, Rice, 48, served on the staff of the White House National Security Council and as assistant secretary of state for African affairs under the Bill Clinton administration.