The war in Iraq has left the country worse off than it was under Saddam Hussein's regime, former United Nations weapons inspector Hans Blix told a newspaper in Denmark.

In an interview published in Tuesday's edition of the daily Jyllands Posten, Blix said the cost of ridding Iraq of Saddam has been too high.

"What's positive is that Saddam and his bloody regime is gone, but when figuring out the score, the negatives weigh more," Blix said.

Hans Blix (file photo)

"That accounts for the many casualties during the war and the many people who still die because of the terrorism the war has nourished," he said.

Blix led the UN weapons inspections in the months leading up to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq last March.

His teams found little to support the pre-war assertions by the United States that Saddam's regime was actively developing and stockpiling chemical, biological or nuclear weapons.

Post-war searches led by the United States have likewise come up empty.

Having retired from the UN, Blix now heads a new Stockholm-based independent commission on weapons of mass destruction.