McCain Fears Iran Deal to Strengthen Tehran’s Missile Capability

US Senate Armed Services Chairman John McCain claimed Tuesday that the nuclear deal between the P5+1 countries and Iran would bolster Iran’s industrial scale nuclear program while enhancing its ability to gain access to weapons and ballistic missiles.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — McCain said the agreement is built too much on the belief that Iran would change its position on the nature of the nuclear program.

“The result, I fear, is that this agreement will strengthen Iran’s ability to acquire conventional weapons and ballistic missiles, while retaining an industrial scale nuclear program, without any basic change to its malign activities in the Middle East,” McCain said.

Earlier on Tuesday, Iran and the P5+1 group of countries — China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States and Germany — reached a final comprehensive agreement to ensure the peaceful nature of Tehran's nuclear program in exchange for lifting sanctions.

The agreement, called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, focusses on a joint oversight commission on the Iranian nuclear program, implementation as well as on civil nuclear energy cooperation.

The Senator said the United States would be delusional to think otherwise, and noted the agreement undermines the very goals it has maintained for 35 years — “weakening the Islamic Republic, constraining its threatening influence, strengthening Israel and our Arab partners, lessening regional tensions and preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapons capability.”

McCain called on the Congress to carefully review the agreement to ensure it did not threaten US national security interests.

On Tuesday, President Barack Obama stated that as a result of the nuclear agreement, Iran would dispose of 98 percent of its enriched uranium. Obama also said that such a development would stop proliferation of nuclear arms in the Middle East.