Hillary Clinton Tries to Ease Nuclear Proliferation Fears

Telling Ann Curry she has no intention of recycling those "Make History!" presidential campaign buttons wasn't the only headline Hillary Clinton made this week. On Tuesday, Clinton emerged from her meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov insisting that Russia and the U.S. were united on Iran's nuclear program even though Lavrov dismissed joining the U.S. in threatening Iran with sanctions as "counterproductive" at this point.

The secretary of state called the position of Russia and the United States on Iran a "very strong, united approach." Clinton said that the United States had "always looked at" potential sanctions against Iran if "we cannot assure ourselves and others that Iran has decided not to pursue nuclear weapons."

For Clinton's sanctions threat to have any teeth Russia needs to be on board. Of course, it seems likely that Russia would join the U.S. if negotiations were to fail. But, by refusing to discuss the possibility of sanctions early on with Clinton, Russia is extending the possibility of cover if Iran does attempt to draw the negotiations out in an attempt to play for time.

And, Iran isn't the only country paying close attention to how these talks with Russia unfold. Borrowing a move from Iran's playbook, North Korea on Monday launched five test missiles. Unfazed, Clinton said that talks with North Korea on nuclear proliferation would be "unaffected." That's two "remain calm" messages on nuclear proliferation this week -- and it's only Tuesday. Somehow, I'm not feeling reassured yet.