The capes, masks, gadget belts and other superhero paraphernalia are not in evidence. But otherwise Nicolas Sarkozy and Barack Obama make a convincing dynamic duo.

Rushing to a joint news conference at the White House after their schedules overran, the two presidents evoked memories of the 1960s Batman TV series, starring Adam West as the Caped Crusader and Burt Ward as Robin, the Boy Wonder. At 6ft, Obama towers over his 5ft 5in French counterpart but appears shorter in the picture because he is behind Sarkozy.

The pair were snapped in motion as they arrived at a White House press conference, where they tried to defuse speculation of a chilly relationship.

Mr Obama repeatedly referred to Mr Sarkozy by his first name during the French President's first Washington visit and spoke fondly of his trip to Paris last year.

'We respect one another and understand one another,' Mr Obama said.

The Obamas also hosted the Sarkozys at a private White House dinner - a gesture rarely extended to foreign leaders.

Just a day earlier in New York, Mr Sarkozy spoke bluntly about the U.S. role in foreign affairs, saying the world needed an America that listens.

Yet when asked directly whether he thinks President Obama listens to him, President Sarkozy offered a long defence of their relationship, calling it candid and productive.

'President Obama, when he says something, keeps his word,' Mr Sarkozy said. 'His word is his bond. And that is so important.'

Although the leaders have met twice in Paris, yesterday marked Mr Sarkozy’s first Washington visit.

And the French were boasting yesterday that Mr Sarkozy’s welcome trumped that of other foreign leaders because he was invited with wife Carla Bruni to a private dinner with the Obamas in the White House.

It was, said the French presidential palace, a first-of-its-kind invitation and a sign of Mr Obama’s high esteem for America’s oldest ally.

And the timing proved auspicious for Mr Sarkozy, who was certainly making all the right noises to cozy up to his American counterpart before they sat down for talks.

The meeting followed just days after MPs called to jettison the term ‘special relationship’ coined more than 60 years ago by Winston Churchill to describe U.S.-British relations.

Under the watchful gaze of his supermodel wife in the front row, Mr Sarkozy spoke of his admiration for President Obama in a speech at Columbia University.

‘You are very loved in the world but we expect a lot from you,’ he said.

‘In Europe, we are your friends. In Europe, we admire you. You don’t have to worry about that,’ he added.

But Mr Obama’s view of France is likely to hinge on Mr Sarkozy’s stand on Afghanistan.

The U.S. president, fresh from his weekend trip to the front lines, was seking to persuade Mr Sarkozy to buck popular resistance at home and send more troops to the war zone.

A key aim of Mr Sarkozy’s trip was to underline that France is a firm U.S. ally in fighting terrorism.

‘We will remain by your side in Afghanistan. In the face of terrorism, we cannot be divided,’ he said.

But it remains to see whether he will commit any more than the 3,750 troops and trainers France has in Afghanistan.

Last year, the French resisted calls by Mr Obama to send reinforcements, even as the U.S. pledged the deployment of an extra 30,000 troops.

Mr Sarkozy may not risk an unpopular decision with his own popularity at record lows, and with his conservative party suffering from fractures and badly beaten in recent regional elections.

President Obama declared yesterday he hopes to have international sanctions against Iran in place 'within weeks,' not months, because of its continuing nuclear program.

He acknowledged he still lacks full support at the United Nations.

'Do we have unanimity in the international community? Not yet,' Mr Obama said. 'And that's something that we have to work on.'

Mr Obama said he and President Sarkozy are 'inseparable' in their thinking on the subject.

For his part, Mr Sarkozy told reporters, 'Iran cannot continue its mad race' toward acquiring nuclear weapons.

'The time has come to take decisions,' Mr Sarkozy said.

Iran insists its nuclear program is for civilian purposes, not nuclear weapons.

A senior French official said after the White House meeting that major Western players, including France, are ready to consider unilateral sanctions if they cannot get a strong enough U.N. resolution passed.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the French president's office rules.

Mr Obama said he and the French president discussed a wide range of global issues, including the financial regulatory overhaul and peace negotiations in the Middle East.

Mr Sarkozy also said he stands with the U.S. in condemning recent Israeli settlement activity in east Jerusalem.

While his own commitment to Israel's security is well known, Mr Sarkozy said, the settlement activity in lands claimed by the Palestinians 'contributes nothing.'

President Sarkozy praised President Obama for trying to engage the two sides in peace talks.

Mr Sarkozy said that the 'absence of peace' in the region 'is a problem for all of us' that feeds terrorism around the world.

Mr Obama hailed France as one of the United States' oldest and best allies, noting the two countries have fought together on battlefields from Yorktown in the U.S. Revolutionary War to Afghanistan now.

However, the two have had clear differences on Afghanistan, with the Obama administration pressing France as well as other European nations to send more troops, and Mr Sarkozy largely resisting such requests.

President Obama did not go into yesterday's meeting intending to urge President Sarkozy to send more troops, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said ahead of the meeting.

'There's no specific "ask" on the table,' Mr Gibbs said at his daily news briefing.

Instead of troops, France is ready to consider sending more military or police trainers to Afghanistan, according to the French official.

He would not elaborate on how many could go or when, saying only, 'There is no deadline. There is the certitude that there is a need for trainers.'

The two presidents discussed the possibility of training Afghan forces outside Afghanistan because infrastructure there is so poor, the official said.

Instead of troops, Mr Obama will seek more French military or police trainers, according to two Western diplomats who spoke on condition of anonymity because the presidential discussions were private.

French trainers have been among those killed in Afghanistan this year, and polls show most French voters do not support the effort.