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The secretary of state's trip comes as Ukraine's week-old government scrambles to mobilizing reserves in the face of Moscow's military incursion into the Crimea peninsula.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif are expected to meet Thursday on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly. It's the highest-level meeting between the two countries in six years.

In a plan announced Saturday, the U.S. and Russia would give Syria a week to detail its chemical weapons arsenal. Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart reached the deal on the third day of talks in Geneva.

In Geneva, Secretary of State John Kerry said despite the difficulties, the U.S believes a deal is workable. The Syrian leader had offered to sharing data about his chemical weapons stockpile 30 days after signing the international treaty banning their use.

The U.S. secretary of state will be in Geneva on Thursday to meet with his Russian counterpart. Russia's proposal that the Assad regime hand over its chemical weapons may provide a diplomatic way of resolving the crisis. But the U.S. has said Assad can't use it as a delaying tactic.

While making the case for striking Syria, the secretary of state also tried to reassure Americans and U.S. allies that the effort won't draw the nation into another war. His choice of words is getting attention.

Administration officials continue to push for Congressional support of strikes on Syria. Meanwhile, the Pentagon is adding to the number of targets inside Syria that could be struck. They include warplanes, attack helicopters and missile sites. If they're destroyed, Assad's regime could be weakened.

"I can share with you today that blood and hair samples that have come to us through an appropriate chain of custody from east Damascus, from first responders, it has tested positive for signatures of sarin," Secretary of State John Kerry told CNN on Sunday.

As the world waits for what are expected to be U.S. missile strikes on military targets inside Syria in coming days, Secretary of State John Kerry made the Obama administration's case for holding the Syrian leader accountable.

"Anyone who approaches this logically" would conclude that President Bashar Assad's forces used chemical weapons "on a massive scale" last week, White House spokesman Jay Carney said Tuesday. President Obama is weighing "the appropriate response," Carney added.