WASHINGTON
The White House said Tuesday that the U.S. recently provided anti-tank missiles to Iraq.
The announcement was in response to criticism by Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi who said the U.S.-led coalition fighting Daesh is not sufficiently supporting Iraq in its fight against the militants.
"I would note that in the last week, the United States did provide 1,000 AT4 weapons to Iraqi security forces," said White House spokesman Josh Earnest who added that the coalition has always considered additional support to the Iraqi government as it fights Daesh.
Ahead of an international anti-Daesh conference in Paris on Tuesday, Abadi said the coalition had promised many things to Iraqi authorities but few had been delivered.
He also said that the previous Iraqi government had paid for weapons from Russia but were unable to receive them after the U.S. imposed sanctions on Moscow.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who joined the meeting via videoconference from a hospital in Boston where he underwent surgery for a broken leg suffered in a recent bicycle accident, told the conference that the first shipment of 2,000 promised AT4 anti-tank missiles should arrive as early as this week.
Daesh has made significant advances in Iraq and Syria in recent weeks, despite dozens of coalition airstrikes.
The militant group has captured Ramadi in Iraq and also the ancient city of Palmyra in Syria.
