Senior ISIS figure killed in U.S. airstrike in Iraq?

A U.S. airstrike may have killed a top ISIS figure in Iraq, but the White House has not yet confirmed his death.

The Iraqi defense ministry said a U.S. bombing raid near Mosul killed Abu Hajar al-Sufi, one of ISIS commander Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's top lieutenants, reports CBS News correspondent Major Garrett.

The White House confirmed the air raid, but deputy national security advisor Ben Rhodes, brother of CBS News president David Rhodes, said the U.S. is still investigating reports of al-Sufi's death.

"We are very careful not to make declarative statements until we know with certainty that someone like that, who's a very high value individual in the organization, has been taken out," Rhodes said. "Any time that there's a leader taken off the battlefield in a terrorist organization like that, it does have an impact on their ability to operate as effectively as they did before."

President Obama huddled with European leaders and Jordan's king Abdullah about military moves against ISIS at the NATO summit. Top aides said NATO will pledge military assistance, but specifics will come later. The White House conceded that destroying ISIS is a job likely to fall to the next president.

"It's clearly going to take a very long time to ensure that you've eliminated that threat," said Rhodes.

Obama's described goal of making ISIS a manageable problem contrasted sharply with Vice President Joe Biden's promise that the U.S. would follow ISIS to the "gates of hell" for executing two American journalists.

"I think the difference is -- when you look at the phases here, there's an initial phase where you have to degrade an organization, you have to squeeze them. You have to put in place a structure that can then defeat them," said Rhodes. "We've done this."