Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has apologized for some of the mistakes over the Iraq war.
"I apologise for the fact that the intelligence we received was wrong," Blair said in an interview with CNN's Fareed Zakaria. The American news channel will broadcast the exclusive interview on Sunday.
"I also apologise, by the way, for some of the mistakes in planning, and certainly, our mistake in our understanding of what would happen once you removed the regime," he added.
Blair, however, said that it was hard to apologize for throwing Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein from power, according to The Independent. "But I find it hard to apologise for removing Saddam," said Blair, who was Prime Minister from 1997 until 2007.
The former British premier also admitted that the Iraq invasion played a pivotal role in the rise of Islamic State jihadist group.
"I think there are elements of truth in that. Of course you can't say those of us who removed Saddam in 2003 bear no responsibility for the situation in 2015," he responded when asked whether the Iraq war could be the reason behind rise of ISIS militant group, according to BBC News.
A spokesperson for the former British PM later clarified about Blair's remarks on the rise of ISIS.
"Tony Blair has always apologised for the intelligence being wrong and for mistakes in planning. He has always also said, and says again here, that he does not however think it was wrong to remove Saddam," the spokeswoman said, according to The Guardian.
"He did not say the decision to remove Saddam in 2003 'caused Isis' and pointed out that Isis was barely heard of at the end of 2008, when al-Qaida was basically beaten," she said.
