"I've got a lot of things on my plate, but my top priority is to defeat I ISIL and to eliminate the scourge of this barbaric terrorism that's been taking place around the world," Obama said Wednesday.
"There's no more important item on my agenda than going after them and defeating them. The issue is, how do we do it in an intelligent way?"
Obama said both the US and Argentina understand the sorrow felt by the Belgians "because out countries have felt the scourge of terrorism."
He called on the world to unite behind fighting what he called "senseless and vicious" acts.
Also Read
But Obama offered few signs that he planned to retool his strategy in light of the Brussels bombing. The president said his approach to fighting the group has constantly "evolved" to meet the threat and he vowed to remains steady and "resolute.'
Obama criticized Republican presidential candidates who have suggested they would "carpet bomb" the Islamic State. He dismissed that approach as both "inhumane" and counterproductive.
"That would likely be an extraordinary mechanism for ISIL to recruit more," he said.