Special to WorldTribune.com

U.S. officials on May 26 downplayed Islamic State of Iraq and Levant’s (ISIL) recent gains in Iraq as Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi pledged to recapture Ramadi in days, perhaps with assistance from Iran.

The Iraqi government has called for volunteers and enlisted the aid of Shi’ite militiamen in its counteroffensive in ISIL-controlled Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province.

The militiamen, some of which have ties with Iran forces, advanced on May 26 within a few kilometers of Ramadi’s southwestern edge.

Related: U.S. ally against ISIL? Iran conducts air strikes on northern Iraq, Dec. 4, 2014

Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, who heads Iran’s elite Quds Force, said over the weekend that Iran has done far more than the U.S. against the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL).

“Obama has not done a damn thing so far to confront Daesh: doesn’t that show that there is no will in America to confront it?” Soleimani said according to Iran’s state controlled Mehr. “Daesh” is a derogatory Arabic term for ISIL.

Meanwhile the White House has downplayed recent ISIL gains.

“Are we going to light our hair on fire every time there’s a setback?” White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said. Earnest boasted that President Barack Obama’s strategy against ISIL has “yielded important successes.”

A spokesman for the Shi’ite militia said Iraqi forces have Ramadi surrounded from three sides.

On May 26, Iraq’s Defense Ministry said its forces were able to stave off an ISIL offensive in the town of Khaldiya, 15 miles east of Ramadi and 50 miles west of Baghdad.

Iraq also awaits delivery of 2,000 anti-tank rockets from the U.S., slated for arrival within the next week.

Obama reportedly recently met with security advisers at the White House to discuss the possibility of revamping U.S. strategy in the wake of ISIL seizing Ramadi. The Pentagon said the loss of Ramadi would not give ISIL a launching pad to threaten Baghdad.

“They had controlled 80 percent to 90 percent [of Ramadi] for a while and now they have the whole thing,” a senior U.S. military officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said. “It hasn’t shifted the overall battlefield that much.”

  Iran in the background as Iraq prepares campaign to retake Ramadi, Iraq, Josh Earnest, Obama, strategy