PARIS — A senior U.S. diplomat says the coalition of countries arrayed against Islamic State extremists will make it easier to get weapons to the Iraqi soldiers that need them.
Speaking at an international conference in Paris on the fight against the radical Sunni group, Deputy Secretary of State Tony Blinken said Iraq was putting the plan into place.
The U.S. is shipping anti-tank rockets to Iraqi forces to use against suicide truck bombs.
Earlier, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi told journalists his forces needed weapons from Iran and Russia, but were hampered by international sanctions against those two countries.
Iran, Russia and Syria didn't attend Tuesday's conference of a small group of Iraq's allies. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Iraq's problems wouldn't end until Syria's government changes.