TEL AVIV — Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter began a tour Sunday of Middle Eastern nations whose alliances with the United States have been strained by President Obama’s nuclear agreement with Iran.

Carter is the highest-level U.S. official to visit Israel and Saudi Arabia since six world powers struck the deal, designed to prohibit Tehran from developing a nuclear weapon.

The nuclear agreement is viewed with alarm in Israel, where officials fear the deal won’t effectively block Iran’s path to a bomb, and in Sunni-led Persian Gulf nations, which worry it will enhance the Shiite power’s influence across the Middle East.

Read the article “Post Nuclear-Deal, Ashton Carter Says Military Option against Iran Remains on Table” on washingtonpost.com.