TEHRAN - John McCain, the Republic senator from Arizona, says since the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979 the United States has been seeking to “contain” Iran for what he calls Tehran’s “threatening actions and malign influence”.

He also says during this time the U.S. has been working to “strengthen” Israel and Washington’s Arab allies against the Islamic Republic.

“For almost 40 years, the United States’ policy towards Iran has been simple - contain the Islamic Republic’s threatening actions and malign influence, strengthen Israel and our Arab partners,” McCain tells the Tehran Times. 

McCain also argues the United States has been trying to “reduce regional tensions”, a remark disputed by independent analysts inside and outside the United States. 

The world sees Washington’s decades-long support for the Israeli annexation of the Arab lands, its support for the Mujaheedins fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan in the 1980s as well as its invasion of Iraq in 2003 as the chief sources of instability and spread of extremism and terrorism in the region and beyond.

In his interview with the Tehran Times the senator also says the U.S. has been working to prevent Iran “from acquiring nuclear weapons capability in the future”. 

In contrary to remarks by the Arizona senator Iran has been insisting that it never intends to produce nuclear arms and declared a production of weapons of mass destruction as haram (religiously forbidden).

McCain also defended adoption of new sanctions against Iran by Congress.

Last month the House of Representatives and Senate voted overwhelmingly to impose new sanctions on Iran for what they claimed Iran’s “destabilizing” behavior in the Middle East and its alleged support for terrorism.
  
“I will continue to work with my colleagues in Congress to keep the pressure on the Iranian government to stop its sponsorship of terrorism worldwide, roll back all aspects of its malign activities across the region, and immediately release all American detainees.”

The sanctions go against the spirit of the July 2015 nuclear agreement signed between Iran, the European Union, Germany and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council including the United States.