Blair: 'Radical Islam' is biggest threat to security

London/Dublin: Tony Blair has said "wicked and backward-looking" radical Islam is the biggest threat to global security.

In a television interview aired on Saturday, the former British prime minister rejected claims that the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan increased Muslim radicalisation.

Blair told the BBC World Service "the biggest threat in international security is this broader radicalised movement, because I think it is rather similar to revolutionary communism".

He said Al Qaida-linked extremism was "loosely a global ideological movement, but Iran is a state sponsor of it".

Meanwhile, several anti-war protesters were arrested on Saturday after they hurled shoes and eggs at Blair when he arrived at a Dublin bookstore to promote his memoirs.

Scores of demonstrators chanted that Blair had "blood on his hands".

Blair was paid a £4-million (Dh21.6 million) advance for A Journey, which mounts a strong defence of his policies during his decade as premier, including the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Blair says in the book that he is not sorry for his decision to enter the US-led war, although he has wept for its victims. He is donating all proceeds from the book to a charity for wounded troops. Released last week, A Journey is Amazon's best-selling title in Britain, and has climbed into the top 10 on the online retailer's US chart.