MISRATA, LIBYA – JUNE 02: In this handout image made available by the photographer American journalist Steven Sotloff (Center with black helmet) talks to Libyan rebels on the Al Dafniya front line, 25 km west of Misrata on June 02, 2011 in Misrata, Libya. Sotloff was kidnapped in August 2013 near Aleppo, Syria and was recently shown on a jihadist video in which fellow US journalist James Foley was executed. In the video the militant form the Islamic State (IS) threatens to kill Sotloff next if the US continues its aerial campaign against the insurgency. (Photo by Etienne de Malglaive via Getty Images)

A file photo of Steven Sotloff that was distributed when he went missing last year. Photo by Etienne de Malglaive via Getty Images.

In response to the video of the brutal killing of American journalist Steven Sotloff the Islamic State released yesterday, Vice President Joe Biden said that the U.S. “[will] follow them to the gates of hell until they are brought to justice because hell is where they will reside.”

Speaking at a press conference in Portsmouth, N.H. earlier today, Biden spoke about how the U.S. will respond to the Islamic State’s threats against President Barack Obama, the U.S., and the lives of hostages they’re currently holding captive. Yesterday, the Islamic State released their second video depicting the brutal beheading of an American hostage. Sotloff was a freelance journalist who has written for Time, Foreign Policy, The National Interest, and others. He went missing in August of 2013 while on assignment in Syria.

Previously, the Islamic State released a similarly shot video of a militant beheading American journalist James Foley, who was abducted in Syria in November of 2012.

“If they think the American people will be intimidated, they don’t know us very well,” Biden added during his speech.

President Obama, who is presently in Estonia ahead of the upcoming NATO summit in Wales, emphasized during a press conference that the U.S. would not be intimidated by the Islamic State’s acts, the Associated Press reports.

“We will not be intimidated. Their horrific acts only unite us as a country and stiffen our resolve to take the fight against these terrorists,” Obama said. “And those who make the mistake of harming Americans will learn that we will not forget, and that our reach is long and that justice will be served.”

Filed Under: barack obama, islamic state, joe biden, steven sotloff,