NZ unlikely to be part of Iraq intervention - PM

Iraqis sift through the aftermath of a car bomb attack in the crowded commercial area of Karrada, in Baghdad. Photo / AP

New Zealand is not likely to be part of a military intervention in Iraq, according to Prime Minister John Key.

Mr Key told Radio New Zealand this morning it was "highly unlikely" that President Barack Obama would request New Zealand assistance to respond to the conflict in Iraq.

Mr Key is spending the week in the United States and will meet with Mr Obama.

He said military intervention in Iraq was a last resort for the West.

"Everybody from the United States downwards believes that's the least preferred option."

He said he would listen to requests for a multilateral response, in the form of NATO intervention or something similar, but said "that's not a place New Zealand wants to be".

Militants from the jihadist group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant have seized large areas of Iraq in the last week, in a dramatic escalation of violence.