The UK prime minister has welcomed US President Barack Obama's decision to authorise air strikes against Islamic militants in Iraq.
David Cameron said the world must help religious minorities in Iraq who are under threat from the militants "in their hour of desperate need".
Mr Cameron has asked officials to look at ways the UK can provide help, but a spokeswoman ruled out military strikes.
The Foreign Office has advised Britons not to travel to the Kurdistan region.
Yazidis threatenedIslamic State (IS) militants have seized Qaraqosh, Iraq's biggest Christian town, prompting members of the Yazidi community to flee.
Officials have warned the Yazidis face starvation and dehydration if they remain stranded on Mount Sinjar, and slaughter at the hands of the militants if they move.
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Tens of thousands of Iraqi Christians and Yazidis are understood to have fled their homes, as James Robbins reports
American troops have already made humanitarian air drops to Iraqis threatened by the IS, a Sunni Muslim group formerly known as Isis or Isil (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant).
In a statement on Friday morning, Mr Cameron said: "I welcome president Obama's decision to accept the Iraqi government's request for help and to conduct targeted US air strikes, if necessary, to help Iraqi forces as they fight back against Isil terrorists to free the civilians trapped on Mount Sinjar.
"And I fully agree with the president that we should stand up for the values we believe in - the right to freedom and dignity, whatever your religious beliefs."
A Downing Street spokeswoman said the UK was "not planning a military intervention".
Analysis By Jonathan MarcusThe UK is especially concerned at the developing humanitarian crisis in Iraq as religious minorities flee the advance of Islamic State forces.
For now British military help may simply not be needed. It is the Americans who have been asked by the Iraqi government to intervene and Washington has more than enough capacity in the region if air strikes are required.
Britain, along with the Americans and others, is encouraging the Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki to pursue more inclusive governing arrangements.
His behaviour is seen as partly responsible for many of Iraq's current problems, and its difficulties in confronting the Islamic State challenge.
But Mr Cameron added: "I have tasked officials to urgently establish what more we can do to provide help to those affected, including those in grave need of food, water and shelter in the Sinjar area."
Defence Secretary Michael Fallon chaired a meeting of the government's emergency Cobra committee on the situation in Iraq on Friday morning.
Labour's shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander said President Obama was right to authorise limited air strikes - and he called on Mr Cameron to speak out about the plight of the Yazidi people.
"The British government should be speaking up, speaking out, and acting quickly to ensure that the international community does not simply walk by on the other side as this persecution increases."
But he added that international action alone - though "vital to help prevent a brutal and horrific escalation" - would not solve the crisis in the long term and it would be up to Iraqis themselves to achieve political reconciliation and a strengthening of their security forces.
Meanwhile, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has urged Britons currently in the Kurdistan region to leave areas close to the fighting.
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