While much of the world celebrated the Vienna deal with Iran, deep concern has enveloped Israel, where there is harsh criticism, crossing party lines, involving central aspects of the agreement.

The issues causing concern include inspections over Iranian facilities, the failure to dismantle Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, thus enabling it to become a “nuclear threshold” state in 10 to 15 years, and the early lifting of sanctions. Several nations and the U.S. Congress are now debating these points.

My aim here is not to rehearse the arguments about the deal itself. Instead, I want to draw attention to the urgent need to make some critical complementary strategic decisions to confront Iran’s destructive regional agenda—whether the U.S. Congress backs the Vienna agreement or not.

While both parties to the Vienna deal have been at pains to stipulate that this is an agreement about Iran’s nuclear program, not its role in the Middle East, it is impossible to ignore the deal’s immediate regional implications. Indeed, even as noted in Vienna, this deal represents for its sponsors Iran’s return to “the family of nations.”

Read the article in full at Newsweek.