US President Barack Obama says his national security team is "looking at all the options" as the crisis in Iraq unfolds, with Arab jihadists pushing towards Baghdad.
"Iraq is going to need more help from the United States and from the international community," Obama said on Thursday.
"Our national security team is looking at all the options... I don't rule out anything."
Earlier, House Speaker John Boehner laid into Obama, accusing him of taking a "nap" on Iraq, while Republican Senator John McCain called for US air strikes to repel Islamist rebels advancing on Baghdad.
With jihadists capturing several large Iraqi cities, forcing hundreds of thousands of residents to flee, hawkish McCain called for "drastic measures" to reverse the tide and said Obama should sack his national security team for failed policies in the Middle East.
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"Get a new national security team in place. You have been ill-served," he told Obama in a speech on the Senate floor.
Boehner angrily snapped that the Obama administration has seen the pressure on Iraq's government building for over a year but did little to help authorities there counter the insurgents.
"Now they've taken control of Mosul, they're 100 miles (160 kilometres) from Baghdad," Boehner told reporters.
"And what's the president doing? Taking a nap."
