Obama vows 'tough diplomacy' with Iran

United States President Barack Obama vowed Saturday to engage in "tough diplomacy" with Iran over its nuclear program.

Speaking after a meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Obama said Iran's actions were contrary to its leaders' insistence that the Islamic Republic does not seek nuclear weapons.

The U.S. leader added that wanted to see greater U.S.-Russian efforts to limit nuclear weapons and said that his work against nuclear proliferation and the efforts toward that end by other countries should signal Iran's leaders that they are not being singled out for rebuke.

Sarkozy agreed with Obama's efforts to bring about a Middle East peace that provides for separate Israeli and Palestinian states, and on the need to thwart Iran's disputed nuclear ambitions.

"We want peace. We want dialogue. We want to help them develop. But we do not want military nuclear weapons to spread and we are clear on that," said Sarkozy, who met Wednesday with Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki.

"I said to him... that he had to take this hand stretched out by Barack Obama."

The leaders met in the Normandy city of Caen before commemorating the D-Day invasion that cemented the trans-Atlantic alliance.

Sarkozy also agreed with Obama's call for Israel to stop building settlements in the West Bank and said he worries about "insane statements" by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

With regard to the Middle East peace process, Obama said he wanted to see "serious, constructive" peace talks aimed at finding a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians.

"Progress would mean the parties involved ... are in serious, constructive negotiations towards a two state solution," Obama told reporters.

"I do not expect that a 60-year problem is solved overnight, but as I have said before, I do expect both sides to recognize that their fates are tied together," he added.

Earlier Saturday, the first couples of each country - Obama and his wife Michelle and Sarkozy and model-turned-singer Carla Bruni-Sarkozy - greeted each other warmly with grins, hugs and, for the women, double kisses on the cheeks outside of the French Prefecture, as several hundred people cheered, shrieked and waved small French and American flags from behind security barriers around the regional headquarters. Police surrounded the crowd from all sides.

Obama and Sarkozy shook a few of the onlookers' hands and listened to each country's national anthem in the gravel palace courtyard before heading down the red carpeted walkway to retreat inside for private talks over lunch.

The U.S. president was rounding out a Mideast and European swing in Normandy, whose cliffs and coastline are still pocked with gun batteries and other remnants of World War II.

	U.S. President Obama, left, Prince Charles, center, and British PM Brown Sat. marking the 65th anniversary of D-Day in France.
	Photo by: (AP)