The French and American presidents have continued to stress their common ground as François Hollande’s state visit draws to a close.<br /><br />Barack Obama said both had resolved to put more pressure on Russia and Iran over stopping the bloodshed in Syria.<br /><br />The French leader tackled the thorny issue of data protection after the revelations of US spying exposed in the NSA scandal. <br /><br />“We have worked towards cooperation which can enable the fight against terrorism and at the same time to respect principles. And we are making headway over this cooperation. And there is a mutual trust which has been restored and which should be based both on respect for each other’s country and also based on the protection of privacy,” François Hollande told a joint news conference in Washington. <br /><br />President Obama said France and other allies were committed to enforcing existing sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme.<br /><br />“We don’t want new sanctions, because the ones we have in place are already squeezing Iran and brought them to the table. We also want to send a message to the Iranians that if they don’t resolve this broader issue of their nuclear program that there will be consequences – and that the sanction regime will not only stay in place but are likely to be tightened in the event that these talks fail,” Obama said.
