Mrs. Clinton, the iron-brained lady, has embarked on yet another round of very diplomatic and very tactful remarks before she visits a country that's paying close attention to her words. Last year, before going to Brazil to peddle her sanctions package, she thought it would be a good idea to threaten the Brazilians to accept her advise or else [ http://tinyurl.com/iran-ties-a-bad-idea]. Now she goes off again calling names before she gets on the plane.

Mrs. Clinton is so bent on sanctions against Iran that only now she's waking up to an information her intelligence services must have known for days, since it has been circulating in the internet for at least one week: Iran is about to announce the suspension of uranium enrichment to 20% as soon as the fuel-swap deal it agreed to with Turkey and Brazil is officially accepted by the Vienna Group. She's trying now to counter that announcement, which will be one more nail in the sanctions' coffin, by dismissing it beforehand as a "stunt".

If Iran were to dump all its nuclear fuel-processing equipment into the Persian Gulf and swear never to look at a centrifuge again, Mrs. Clinton would call this "a stunt" and ask for even "tougher" sanctions.

What Mrs. Clinton should worry about now is being received by any high-level officials in Brazil, after her insulting remarks about the nuclear-fuel swap deal negotiated by Brazil and Turkey with Iran - another "stunt", according to her. Brazil must be now thinking of a way to strike a balance between preserving its friendly relationship with the U.S. and treating Mrs. Clinton as she deserves, and she may count herself lucky if she gets to see a deputy foreign minister in Brasília. She may then explain, because the Brazilians will certainly ask her, why the U.S. is so intent on approving sanctions against a country that has shown its willingness to negotiate as long as it is treated with the respect it deserves, instead of being *ordered* to concede everything before negotiations even start. But if she can't keep the rest of her arrogant remarks to herself before she arrives there, she risks being met by a sour-faced junior third secretary who'll listen to her tirades and send her packing to her next stop.