U.S. President Barack Obama confirmed Wednesday that the video showing the decapitation of American journalist Steven Sotloff was authentic and signaled that the U.S. would look to lead the charge against Islamic State militants.

The video showing the beheading was posted on Islamic State's website Tuesday, just weeks after the group posted a video showing the beheading of another American journalist, James Foley.

"The bottom line is this: our objective is clear. That is to degrade and destroy ISIL so that it is no longer a threat not just to Iraq but also to the region and to the United States," Obama said, The Washington Times reported. "In order for us to accomplish that, the first phase has been to make sure we've got an Iraqi government in place and that we are blunting the momentum that ISIL was carrying out. And the airstrikes have done that."

"But now what we need to do is make sure we've got the regional strategy in place that can support an ongoing effort not just in the air but on the ground to move that forward."

Last month, Obama authorized air strikes in Iraq to beat back the Islamic State -- which also goes by the names ISIL and ISIS -- in the Kurdish region, where the militants had been advancing.

These air strikes and a coordinated effort with Iraqi and Kurdish forces have been successful in taking back some territory that had been captured by the Islamic State in Iraq, which also has been taking territory in neighboring Syria, according to USA Today.

Obama has authorized drone surveillance in Syria, but has not gone as far as ordering air strikes on militants in that country. After the second beheading, that looks like it soon could change.

"It's not only that we're going to be bringing to justice those who perpetrated this terrible crime against (Foley and Sotloff), more broadly the United States will continue to lead a regional and international effort against the kind of barbaric and ultimately empty vision that ISIL represents," Obama said. "That's going to take some time but we're going to get it done. I'm confident of it."