US Republican Senator John McCain (AZ) said in an television interview this week that the US would not follow a European wave of symbolic recognition of a Palestinian state, Israel’s NRG News reported on Monday.

The Republican majority leader in the Senate warned Euronews that regional “events had overtaken this issue; when we look at ISIS, when we look at Muslim extremism, when we look at those influences, which also influence the Palestinians.”

Noting that the charter and publicly stated aims of Hamas in Gaza were “part of the problem,” McCain went on to assert that the Iranian-backed Palestinian group is “committed to the destruction of Israel, and from time to time we see outbreaks of violence – and thank God for Iron Dome, because otherwise we would seen carnage in Israel.”

He added that, “I think, obviously, both sides deserve responsibility, but there is no reason to stop trying (to mediate between the parties).”

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Asked about the wave of symbolic European recognition of a Palestinian state by Sweden and the UK, and upcoming votes by France and possibly others, McCain replied firmly: “…certainly, it will never be American – United States policy.”

Turning to the P5+1 talks over Iran’s nuclear program – which the west and Israel contend hides a weaponization program – the veteran US senator noted that “The Iranians have a long history of cheating, of concealing their nuclear capabilities. They continue to develop the warhead and the missiles to deliver nuclear weapons.

“We’re on the verge – if the Administration has its way – of a very bad deal,” McCain said.

“Meanwhile, Iran destabilized Yemen, they are pouring weapons [to] and motivated Hezbollah, ordered Hezbollah into Syria to slaughter civilians,” according to McCain. “They are responsible for attacks on US facilities going all the way back to the attack on the USS Cole, and they are attempting to exert additional influence in the region, in other places like Bahrain, and others.

“Our goal,” McCain concluded,” should not be to delay their capability; it should be to prevent their acquisition of nuclear weapons, or development of nuclear weapons, and already, the outlines I see are already a very bad deal.”

McCain lost the 2008 US presidential election to President Barack Obama, and will likely soon be appointed chairman of the influential Senate Armed Services Committee, following the recent strong Republican victory in midterm elections in the Senate and the House of Representatives.

McCain told interviewer Isabelle Kumar that he ruled out a future presidential run.

Watch a clip of the full interview with McCain: