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CHICAGO (AP) -- Republican John McCain accused Democrat Barack Obama of inexperience and reckless judgment for saying Iran does not pose the same serious threat to the United States as the Soviet Union did in its day.

The likely GOP presidential nominee made the criticism Monday in Chicago, Obama's home turf.

''Such a statement betrays the depth of Senator Obama's inexperience and reckless judgment. These are very serious deficiencies for an American president to possess,'' McCain said at the restaurant industry's annual meeting.

He was referring to comments Obama made Sunday in Pendleton, Ore.: ''Iran, Cuba, Venezuela -- these countries are tiny compared to the Soviet Union. They don't pose a serious threat to us the way the Soviet Union posed a threat to us. And yet we were willing to talk to the Soviet Union at the time when they were saying, 'We're going to wipe you off the planet.'''

McCain's campaign on Monday distributed a video clip of Obama making the comments.

McCain listed the dangers he sees from Iran: It provides deadly explosive devices used to kill U.S. soldiers in Iraq, sponsors terrorists in Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East and is committed to Israel's destruction.

''The threat the government of Iran poses is anything but tiny,'' McCain said.

Responding to McCain, Obama told a town hall rally later Monday in Billings, Mont., ''Let me be absolutely clear: Iran is a grave threat.'' But the Soviet Union posed an added threat, he said. ''The Soviet Union had thousands of nuclear weapons, and Iran doesn't have a single one.''

Obama said the threat from Iran had grown as a result of the U.S. war in Iraq. ''Iran is the biggest single beneficiary of a war in Iraq that should have never been authorized and should have never been waged,'' he said. ''And John McCain wants to double down that failed policy.'' If McCain is elected, Obama said, ''We'll keep talking tough in Washington, while countries like Iran ignore our tough talk.''

The alternative, Obama said, is to follow the example of Presidents Kennedy and Reagan, who negotiated with the Soviet Union. Obama called for ''tough, disciplined and direct diplomacy.''

''That's what Kennedy did; that's what Reagan did,'' he said.

Although the Democratic primary race rolls on, McCain and Obama have criticized each other as if they are in the general election campaign. On Friday, Obama called McCain's foreign policy ''naive and irresponsible''; McCain questioned whether Obama has the strength and judgment to be commander in chief.

At the heart of the dispute between the candidates is Obama's assertion that, as president, he would meet with leaders of these rogue countries without preconditions. Obama insists that direct engagement with the Soviets helped prevent nuclear war and, over time, helped to bring down the Berlin Wall.

McCain strongly disagrees with Obama's position; he argues such a meeting would lend international prestige to U.S. foes.

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