Seventy-six national security experts urged President-elect Donald J. Trump on Monday to reverse his hostility to the nuclear agreement signed with Iran last year and to use it as a tool to ease other tensions with the country. – New York Times
One maxim Trump will quickly learn: Washington now has very limited power to isolate and punish Iran. Trump may be able to follow through on pledges to tear up the U.S. portion of last year’s nuclear deal, which seeks to rein in Tehran’s nuclear program in exchange for easing international sanctions. – Washington Post’s World Views
President Obama cautioned his successor against re-opening the debate over the Iran nuclear deal, saying that it was easy for Donald Trump to promise he would rip up the deal when he was just a candidate. But now, when the president-elect just "looks at the facts," he will see the deal is working, Obama argued. - Politico
U.S. officials are expressing concern about a budding arms pact between Iran and Russia estimated to be worth more than $10 billion, according to State Department officials who spoke to the Washington Free Beacon and expressed alarm over the “increased Iranian military capability.” – Washington Free Beacon
Nearly a dozen Arab nations accused Iran on Monday of sponsoring “terrorism” throughout the Middle East while increasing support for jihadist groups since signing the international nuclear deal last summer. – Washington Free Beacon
Eli Lake reports: President Barack Obama's signature foreign policy achievement, the Iran nuclear deal, is in trouble. On Wednesday, the International Atomic Energy Agency noted that Iran had exceeded its allowed stockpile of "heavy water," a substance used to cool plutonium reactors, for the second time since the agreement went into effect...If Hillary Clinton had won the election, the excess heavy water would likely remain in the non-compliance category. But Donald Trump will be the next president, and he has promised to enforce the 2015 deal with vigor. - Bloomberg View
Jenna Lifhits reports: The United Nations' nuclear watchdog may have delayed releasing a report which revealed that Iran has again violated last summer's landmark nuclear deal amid efforts by the Obama administration to protect the deal, a top nuclear expert told THE WEEKLY STANDARD. – The Weekly Standard
Fred Fleitz writes: Trump critics have argued that renegotiating or terminating the nuclear deal would isolate the United States and hurt America’s global stature. But in reality, President Obama’s foreign policy has already undermined America’s reputation around the world. Fixing or killing the Iran nuclear deal will be President Trump’s first step toward restoring America’s global leadership. – National Review Online
Emily Landau and Shimon Stein write: In conclusion, negotiations with Iran have demonstrated the centrality of U.S. involvement in regional nonproliferation efforts and hence the responsibility of the United States to take the lead in continuing to fight against proliferation in the Middle East. This goal can be advanced by setting a clear arms control agenda that not only reflects the lessons learned from the Iran nuclear negotiations, but also recognizes the impact of changing global and regional trends, and the need to conduct new conversations with both Russia and China. – Los Angeles Times
Alan Goldsmith writes: Iran is putting America and American lives at risk. Now is not the time to respond by abandoning our longstanding, leading law to address that risk. Now is the time to reauthorize ISA for years to come, strictly enforce the nuclear deal, and push back hard against Iranian violations and aggression in all forms. – Times of Israel