Live Blog: The struggle for Iraq

The Pentagon announced on Monday that it has "absolutely no intention" of co-ordinating any military activities in Iraq with Iran.

However, it emerged earlier today that the US and Iran could discuss the situation in Iraq on the sidelines of upcoming nuclear talks in Vienna this week.

Spanish police arrested eight people in raids in Madrid against a jihadist recruitment network led by Lahcen Ikassriem, a Moroccan who was extradited to Spain in 2005 after being held at Guantanamo Bay, the government said.

Police have so far launched 12 raids in the Spanish capital, detaining eight people, and the investigation remains open, Spain's interior ministry said in a statement.

The Islamic cell found and despatched recruits for ISIL militants based in Syria and Iraq, the ministry said.

Iranian news outlets are reporting that Masud Barzani, President of Iraqi Kurdistan, met with Admiral Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, on Monday.

 Iraqi government is imposing a "collective punishment" on the northern province of Nineveh by intentionally cutting off electricity and water in Mosul and surrounding regions, Kamal Hamid, an official from Nineveh's electricity administration said. 

"The Iraqi government, which pretends that there is malfunctioning in the station, is imposing a collective punishment on the city of Mosul and the whole province by cutting electricity since Sunday morning," Hamid told Anadolu Agency.

Iraqi state TV is reporting that reinforcements from the Iraqi army have arrived at Tel Afar, the northern city in Nineweh province reportedly seized by militants on Monday.

A resident told the Associated Press news agency militants were driving through Tel Afar in pick-up trucks mounted with machine-guns, waving the black flag.

Translation: Waves of Iraqi people at one of the recruitment centres to answer the call of the Marja' [Ayatollah al-Sistani] 

Fadhil al-Milani, an imam from the Al-Khoei foundation in west London, responded to Iraqi Shia cleric Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani who had called on Iraqis to take up arms against ISIL, for massacring hundreds of Shia members of the country's armed forces.

Milan told Shia Muslims in Britain that they should not join the armed conflict themselves.

The government of Saudi Arabia has released an official statement on Iraq's unrest, slamming the "sectarian and exclusionary policies implemented in Iraq over the past years that threatened its stability and sovereignty", in an apparent reference to anxiety over Iranian influence in Iraq.

Saudi relations with Maliki’s government have been strained.

Saudi Arabia also rejected plans for any foreign interference in Iraq.

Meanwhile, Qatar’s Foreign Minister told the state news agency late on Sunday that the marginalisation of Sunni Arabs had led to the current unrest.  

The Interior Minister announced on Monday that Jordan is stepping up security on its borders with Iraq, deploying troops to the frontier.

Jordan's Cabinet met on Monday to discuss the ongoing unrest in its eastern neighbour.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague has spoken with his Iranian counterpart about the crisis in Iraq, the British government said on Monday.

Hague's telephone conversation with Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif comes amid reports that Tehran is considering providing military support to the Shiite-led administration in neighbouring Iraq, which has come under assault from mainly Sunni militants.

A US warship entered the Gulf on Monday carrying hundreds of marines and Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft in case they are needed to protect Americans in Iraq, the Pentagon said.

"It's presence in the Gulf adds to that of other US naval ships already there -- including the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush -- and provides the commander-in-chief additional options to protect American citizens and interests in Iraq, should he choose to use them," Rear Admiral John Kirby said.

US Secretary of State John Kerry has said he is "open" to working with Iran to stem the ISIL insurgency in Iraq and has said drone strike are an "option".

BREAKING: Saudi Arabia "rejects" foreign meddling in Iraq and calls for "national consensus" government in Iraq