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Obama holds videoconference with Sarkozy on Syria, Iran

April 13, 2012 10:00 IST

United States President Barack Obama held a videoconference with his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy to discuss with him Syria, Iran, and stability in the oil markets.

"On Syria, Obama and President Sarkozy condemned the violence perpetrated by the regime against its own people and noted that the regime had yet to fully implement the agreement negotiated with Kofi Annan pursuant to the Annan plan," White House Press Secretary, Jay Carney, told the media at his daily news conference on Thursday.

The two leaders called for the regime to fully implement the Annan plan, noting that the international community would judge the regime by its actions and not its words, he said. "On Iran, both leaders expressed hope that Iran would take advantage of the upcoming P5+1

talks to address the international community's concerns about the Iranian nuclear program," he said.

Obama and Sarkozy agreed to continue increasing the pressure on the Iranian regime through sanctions and other measures if Tehran remains unresponsive. "Finally, the President and President Sarkozy agreed to continue their consultations about the tightness in global oil markets," Carney said.

"It should not be a surprise that in our conversations at various levels, including president to president, that we talk about some of the pressing global issues of the day, and certainly tightness in the global oil markets is one of the issues that you would expect to be on the table and to be discussed," Carney said.