The Iraqi Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities retrieved on Wednesday 700 artifacts that were smuggled to Italy, the US and Jordan.

At a press conference held in the Iraqi National Museum on Wednesday, Iraqi Minister of Tourism Adel Fahad Shershab said Iraq received the 700 artifacts, which are dating back to various eras of the Iraqi history, via Iraqi embassies in the three states.

They include copper artifacts, pottery and paintings.

The minister praised the efforts of the Iraqi Foreign Ministry to retrieve the stolen pieces, noting that high-level coordination was underway between the two sides to restore the pieces which have been stolen during the massive looting of the Iraqi National Museum that took place in 2003.

During the press conference, the ministries of tourism and antiquities signed a protocol whereby the 700 retrieved pieces have been handed over to the tourism ministry.

Looting of the Iraqi antiquities has recently been on the rise since Daesh militants have taken control of Mosul in 2014 as they used the profits of selling antiquities to fund their sabotage and destruction operations in Iraq and its neighbor Syria.

UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova condemned the latest destruction and looting by Daesh militants to the historical heritage in Syria and Iraq at a gathering of experts held in London on Thursday.

In February, The UN Security Council unanimously voted on a resolution Thursday to choke off Daesh funding and assets.