Former Cuban president Fidel Castro now regrets the actions leading up to the 1962 missile crisis with the United States, according to an interview with a US magazine.

Asked about his recommendation at the time that the Soviet Union consider an attack on the United States, Castro told journalist Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic: "After I've seen what I've seen, and knowing what I know now, it wasn't worth it all."

The comments about the missile crisis -- which brought two nuclear superpowers to the brink of war -- were part of a wide-ranging interview the former Cuban president gave to the reporter.

Castro, still head of Cuba's Communist party at 84, said he had similar concerns that a showdown over Iran's nuclear weapons program could get out of control depending on the actions of the United States and Israel.

"Men think they can control themselves but (President Barack) Obama could overreact and a gradual escalation could become a nuclear war," he said.