LONDON, July 6 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Tony Blair has revealed for the first time that coalition forces believed the war against Iraq would last for 125 days, the British Observer newspaper reported Sunday.

　　In an interview with the paper, Blair, the staunchest ally o f the United States, said he had spoken to Tommy Franks, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, who had said the fighting was likely to take four months.

　　"When I was talking to General Franks the other day, he reminded me that under the original timetable for the conflict, it was going to take 125 days after the ground action began to complete the conflict," the paper quoted Blair as saying.

　　Blair also told the paper that the U.S.-led military intervention in Iraq is still within the "original timetable" of 125 days set out by its commanders.

　　"Well, we are still within 125 days now, so I think it is possible to exaggerate the problems and difficulties," Blair said, adding that Britain would retain a military presence in Iraq for as long as necessary.

　　"This was never going to be a situation where you could just go in, invade a country, topple the government and walk away afterwards," Blair said.

　　"And therefore, I don't think that it is in the least surprising that it will take some time," he added. "We will stay and make sure we get the job done."

　　Speaking to the paper, Blair still insisted that Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction could be found, although the search was liable to be long.

　　The United States and Britain launched war against Iraq on March 20 on the ground that Iraq's banned weapons posed threat to the international community.

　　Blair has been under great pressure over the failure to find out any banned weapons by coalition forces in Iraq, months after U.S. President George W. Bush announced on May 1 that major military campaign in the country was over. End