The UK will not intervene militarily to help Iraq fight Islamist insurgents, William Hague has insisted.
Asked whether the UK could participate in air strikes, the foreign secretary told the BBC that he "could not be clearer" that this would not happen.
It was up to the Iraqi authorities to stabilise the situation and then try to reconcile different factions.
The US was "more likely to have the assets and capability than the UK" to get involved, he added.
Mr Hague is to make a statement to Parliament later on Monday on events in Iraq after recent territorial advances by Sunni militants.
He has also spoken to his counterpart in Iran about the crisis, amid reports that Tehran is considering military support to the Shia-led administration in Iraq, which has come under assault from militants from the Sunni-dominated Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isis).
'Heavy responsibility'
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Mr Hague told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the situation was worrying and the Iraqi government bore a "heavy responsibility" to try and get a grip on events.
Former Prime Minister Tony Blair has called for the UK to consider some form of "targeted action" in Iraq to check the insurgents' advances but London Mayor Boris Johnson has said this would be "unhinged".
The UK, Mr Hague said, was considering how it could provide assistance to the Iraqi government, ranging from humanitarian aid to help refugees to some form of "counter terrorism expertise".
Although it was not sensible to "absolutely rule out all things out in all situations", Mr Hague said that the UK was not contemplating any direct involvement in Iraq.
"We are not planning any military intervention by the UK in this situation," he said.
"In this situation, today, in Iraq, with what we have seen in recent days, are we looking at a British military intervention? No we are not. I can't be clearer than that."
He added: "The US is more likely to have the assets and capability for any outside intervention than the UK but I stress again that Iraqi security and political leadership is of paramount importance in these circumstances."
'Closed the door'The BBC News Channel's chief political correspondent Norman Smith said this was "pretty categorical" and Mr Hague had "closed the door" to any UK involvement in military action.
Mr Hague acknowledged that the government would find it difficult to get Parliament to agree to any military action after it rejected air strikes in Syria last year.
But he rejected the idea that the vote on Syria meant that Parliament would not vote in favour of military action in different circumstances.
Mr Hague rejected suggestions that the turmoil in Iraq was a direct legacy of the US-UK led invasion of the country to topple Saddam Hussein in 2003.
While errors had been made "in the aftermath" of the invasion, he said he did not think it had been a mistake itself for the UK to participate in the invasion.
"It is entirely possible to say it was the right thing to remove Saddam Hussein but that mistakes were made in the aftermath," he said.
On the wider issue of Western intervention in the Middle East, he added: "It is possible to argue that Western intervention makes these problems worse and it is possible to argue that the absence of Western intervention makes these things worse."
Rory Stewart, the new Conservative chair of the Commons defence committee, said the situation in Iraq was extremely complicated and the international community should be "incredibly cautious" about doing anything that might risk inflaming sectarian tensions.
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