Iraqi politicians and leaders have been holding a series of meetings to try to find a way out of the latest political ­crisis, Iraqi officials said on Tuesday.

The crisis was sparked when the main Sunni Arab political alliance, the Iraqi Consensus Front, announced it was pulling out of the Shia-led government at the beginning of the month, leading to the resignation of six cabinet members. The following week, several government ministers loyal to the Iraqi National List of Iyad Allawi, the former prime minister, said they would boycott cabinet meetings. Both groups said their decisions were caused by the failure of Nouri al-Maliki, the Shia prime minister, to meet their demands.