WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. is not close to launching a military assault against an Iraqi insurgent group but “may get to that point” if the militants become a threat to the American homeland, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Thursday.

Gen. Martin Dempsey told Pentagon reporters that he does not, at this point, believe the U.S. needs to send in an “industrial strength” force with a mountain of supplies to bolster the Iraqi troops as they battle the fast-moving Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL, insurgency. Instead he said the most urgent need still is a political solution centered on a more inclusive Iraqi government.