2 in tandem on Iran, Syria

Hollande’s visit a show of unity

President Barack Obama and French President Francois Hollande end a joint news conference Tuesday at the White House. Obama lauded the two countries’ “enduring alliance.”
President Barack Obama and French President Francois Hollande end a joint news conference Tuesday at the White House. Obama lauded the two countries’ “enduring alliance.”

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama waded into two international struggles Tuesday, vowing to come down like “a ton of bricks” on firms that violate sanctions against Iran and acknowledging that Syrian peace talks are far from reaching their goal.


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Obama spoke during a joint White House news conference with French President Francois Hollande, a key partner on both Syria and Iran. The leaders have aimed to project a united front on the two matters, but a trip to Tehran last week by French executives has irked U.S. officials who are seeking to tamp down the notion that a temporary easing of sanctions opened Iran up for business.

The French delegation of more than 100 business representatives met with top Iranian trade officials to explore opportunities that would arise if international sanctions on Iran were relaxed, prompting a call by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to his French counterpart, Laurent Fabius, to express concern.

Obama said Tuesday that companies exploring economic opportunities in Iran “do so at their own peril right now because we will come down on them like a ton of bricks.”

photo

AP

First lady Michelle Obama, with President Barack Obama and an honor guard standing by, welcomes French President Francois Hollande to a state dinner Tuesday evening at the White House.

Hollande sought to distance himself from the executives’ trip, saying through a translator that the French business community is “very much aware of this situation.”

Obama welcomed Hollande to the White House on Tuesday morning for a lavish state visit, an honor typically bestowed on America’s closest allies.

However, the visit has been overshadowed somewhat by Hollande’s recent romantic woes. He split last month from his longtime girlfriend and French first lady, Valerie Trierweiler, after it was revealed that he was having an affair with an actress. The 59-year-old arrived in Washington without a companion to accompany him during his events.

The White House avoided any mention of Hollande’s personal problems. The president and first lady Michelle Obama, along with a military honor guard, greeted Hollande during an arrival ceremony Tuesday morning on the South Lawn of the White House.

Hollande was the guest of honor at a formal state dinner Tuesday night at the White House, where guests dined on American caviar and wine and enjoyed a performance by singer Mary J. Blige.

The guest list includes business leaders such as Merck & Co. Chief Executive Officer Ken Frazier, Viacom Inc. CEO Philippe Dauman and Elon Musk, co-founder of electric-car maker Tesla Motors Inc., as well as officials and diplomats from both countries and celebrities, including actors Bradley Cooper and Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

At the news conference earlier Tuesday, addressing the civil war in Syria, where more than 130,000 people have been killed over three years, Obama said, “Nobody is going to deny that there’s enormous frustration here.”

The Syrian government and opposition groups have been holding peace talks in Geneva, but the discussions have made little progress. The state of Syria is “crumbling” and “extremists have moved into the vacuum in a way that could threaten us over the long term,” he said.

Obama said he keeps open the option of using force against Syria but added that “right now, we don’t think there’s a military solution.”

The U.S. came close to launching a strike against Syria after a chemical-weapons attack there last year, an effort France was ready to join. Both countries pulled back after Russia helped negotiate a deal to strip Syria of its chemical-weapons stockpiles.

At the U.N. on Tuesday, Western and Arab members circulated a draft resolution calling on all parties in the Syrian civil war to agree to cease-fires and ensure access for humanitarian aid, according to a U.N. diplomat who asked not to be identified commenting on continuing negotiations. It calls for the use of force and economic sanctions against those that fail to comply.

Assad’s ally Russia has vowed to veto the draft should it be put to a vote.

In his appearance with Hollande, Obama called Russia a “holdout” and accused it of complicity in the Syrian regime’s policy of starving cities.

“They cannot say that they are concerned about the well-being of the Syrian people when they are starving civilians, and that it is not just the Syrians that are responsible, the Russians, as well, if they are blocking this kind of resolution,” Obama said.

The U.S. supports the draft resolution because it is clear that previous efforts aren’t yielding the needed progress, he said.

The leaders also faced questions about U.S. government spying, which has spurred anger in France and elsewhere across Europe. Hollande said he and Obama had “clarified” the situation and that “mutual trust has been restored.”

“That mutual trust must be based on respect for each other’s country but also based on protection, protection of private life, of personal data, the fact that any individual, in spite of technological progress, can be sure that he’s not being spied on,” Hollande said. “These are principles that unite us.”

Hollande’s comments underscored a central purpose of the trip for both the U.S. and France: projecting a renewed relationship between the allies. The partnership hit a low point about a decade ago when France staunchly opposed the U.S-led war in Iraq, but relations have been improving in recent years.

The two leaders showered each other with praise, with each saying his nation owes its freedom to the other. Obama announced he will travel to France for a June 6 ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of the D-Day invasion of Normandy.

All of the mutual admiration spurred one French reporter to ask Obama whether the country had replaced Britain as America’s closest ally. Obama laughed and compared that choice to picking between his two daughters.

“They are both gorgeous and wonderful, and I would never choose between them,” he said of daughters Malia and Sasha. “That’s how I feel about my outstanding European partners. All of them are wonderful in their own ways.”

Obama and Hollande both also mentioned the French president’s planned trip to California today for meetings with executives of technology companies in Silicon Valley as an example of an opening for greater cooperation to spur new industries.

The French president is having a private lunch today with executives from Internet and technology companies that is scheduled to include Musk, Facebook Inc. Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg and Google Inc. Chairman Eric Schmidt, according to French officials.

The French economy, the world’s fifth-largest, has barely grown over the past two years and unemployment is at a 16-year high. Joining Hollande on his visit to the U.S. is a delegation of more than 70 business and government leaders.

The U.S. sees economic benefits from closer business ties with France and the potential for pushing along a trade agreement with the European Union.

“We need to get this done because an agreement could increase exports by tens of billions of dollars, support hundreds of thousands of additional jobs both in the U.S. and the European Union, and promote growth on both sides of the Atlantic,” Obama said.

As the global economy has improved since the end of the recession, U.S. exports to France have risen from $26.5 billion in 2009 to $31.9 billion last year, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures. Imports from France also have grown, from $34.2 billion to $45.3 billion over the same period.

Information for this article was contributed by Julie Pace, Nedra Pickler and Elaine Ganley of The Associated Press and by Phil Mattingly, Margaret Talev, Terry Atlas, Roger Runningen, Gregory Viscusi and Nicole Gaouette of Bloomberg News.

Front Section, Pages 1 on 02/12/2014

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