The plight of Iraqis trapped on Mount
Sinjar by Islamist fighters remains "desperate" but a rescue is now "less
likely", the UK has said.
International Development Secretary Justine Greening said the latest US inspection found fewer Yazidi refugees than expected and those remaining were in a better condition than feared.
She said it showed US air strikes were working but added Britain would support a rescue mission if necessary.
UK troops delivered more aid overnight.
It was the fourth air drop by the RAF this week.
'Absolutely critical'
Prime Minister David Cameron is visiting a distribution centre in Wiltshire to see the operation behind humanitarian aid being sent to Iraq.
He said on Wednesday the UK would "play a role" in any international rescue effort.
International Development Secretary Justine Greening: "Clearly
we will need to continue our work"
The US estimates fewer than 10,000 people are fleeing militant group Islamic State (IS), which has seized large parts of northern Iraq in recent months, according to the international development secretary.
Ms Greening told BBC Breakfast that work to get supplies to those displaced by the fighting had been "absolutely critical".
"It's been a very uncertain picture. We've seen some people leaving the mountain while other people have been forced on to it," she said.
"Clearly we will need to continue our work to get all of those supplies to people who are still there over the coming days.
"We will make sure we do that."
On Wednesday, the UN declared the situation in Iraq a "level three emergency", its highest level of humanitarian crisis.
Jihadists from IS are reportedly targeting Iraqi Christians and members of the Yazidi religious sect.
About 35,000 people have escaped from the mountains into Syria and on to the Kurdistan region of Iraq in the past three days, with the UN warning they needed "life-saving assistance".
Some 700,000 Yazidis are believed to have been displaced. BBC
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