Saddam Hussein believed Iran was a significant threat to Iraq and left open the possibility that he had weapons of mass destruction (WMD) rather than appear vulnerable, according to declassified FBI documents on interrogations of the former Iraqi leader.

“Hussein believed that Iraq could not appear weak to its enemies, especially Iran,” FBI special agent George Piro wrote on notes of a conversation with Saddam in June 2004 about WMD.

“In his opinion, the UN inspectors would have directly identified to the Iranians where to inflict maximum damage to Iraq,” according to the documents released by the National Security Archive.

Former US President George W Bush launched the Iraq war in 2003, citing a threat of WMD from Saddam’s Government, but no such weapons were ever found.

Saddam, identified as “High Value Detainee #1”, shared Bush’s hostility towards the “fanatic” Iranian mullahs, according to records of conversations.

Saddam also denied any connections to Osama bin Laden, who he called a “zealot”. He rejected ‘myths’, like his purported use of body doubles. He said he used the telephone only twice since March 1990 and communicated primarily through couriers.