The US has stopped short of recognising Libya’s National Transitional Council as the country’s legitimate government.
The statement comes after the first visit to the White House by a senior member of the rebel council, which is pushing for international support.
Earlier, Col Muammar Gaddafi taunted Nato troops in an audio message on state TV, saying he is a place where they “cannot reach” him.
State media says 11 Muslim clerics have been killed in a Nato air strike.
Mahmoud Jibril, deputy leader of the Benghazi-based National Transitional Council [NTC], met officials at the White House on Friday, including National Security Adviser Tom Donilon.
‘You can’t kill me’
He hoped the US would join France, Gambia, Italy and Qatar in giving full diplomatic recognition to the council until elections can be held.
In a statement, the White House said Mr Donilon shared the view that the council was “a legitimate and credible interlocutor of the Libyan people”.
“In contrast, Mr Donilon stressed that [Col Gaddafi] has lost his legitimacy to rule.”
But the US did not grant formal recognition of the group as the representative of the Libyan people.
White House spokesman Jay Carney said Washington was “continuing to assess the capabilities of the [NTC] as we deepen our engagement with the opposition”.
The US has said it is up to the Libyans to decide their government, not foreign powers.
His visit came as Libyan state TV broadcast an audio message by Col Gaddafi which sought to disprove suggestions he had been injured in an air strike.
The Libyan leader thanked those outside Libya who had “expressed deep and strong concern, enthusiasm and love for me by carrying out all these contacts to enquire about my safety after hearing about the crusader, cowardly and treacherous missile attack”.
“I say to the crusader cowards that I live in a place that you cannot reach and kill me in it because I live in the hearts of the millions,” he added.
“Immortality is for the martyrs, and death, infamy and disgrace are for the treacherous agents and their cowardly masters.”
Italy’s foreign minister said Col Gaddafi had probably been wounded in Thursday’s air strike on his Bab al-Aziziya compound and was believed to have left Tripoli.
Earlier on Friday, state TV reported that a Nato strike hit a boarding house in the eastern city of Brega on Friday, killing 11 imams and wounding 45 people.
But a Nato spokesman said he did “not know any information about an attack or an incident in Brega”.
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US disappoints Libya rebel envoys