France is a key partner in principal security challenges the US is confronting as negotiations begin in Vienna next week toward a comprehensive nuclear deal with Iran, a senior administration official said on Monday in a preview of the US visit of French President Francois Hollande."The US and France have been very aligned in working toward a common position through the P-5 plus one (Permanent five members of the UN Security Council plus Germany) to peacefully resolve the Iranian nuclear issue," the official said during a background briefing via teleconference call.Hollande and President Barack Obama will discuss the preparations for those negotiations and the implementation of the current joint action plan with Iran, the official said.France has also played a "critical role" in dealing with security challenges in Africa with strong support from the US, the official said. In places such as Mali and the Central African Republic (CAR), "France has taken a key role in promoting peace and security, often with the support and facilitation of the United States, as we provide support such as airlift and logistics and intelligence for their efforts," the official said. "I am sure the two presidents will address the situation in Mali and what we are doing, together with countries in the region, to promote lasting security in Mali and the broader Sahel region," the official said. "That obviously speaks to our interest in countering terrorism and also stabilizing democratic governance in that region." In the CAR, France has a key role in working with other countries in the region to try to combat instability and violence and put the CAR back onto a path of peace and development, the official said.In Syria, Hollande was a key partner with Obama "in putting forward a credible threat of military force in the aftermath of the chemical weapons attack in August, and we are aligned with the French both in our desire to see that the agreement to remove and destroy Syria's chemical weapons is completed, but also in terms of pressing for greater humanitarian access to support the people of Syria, who have suffered so much in that conflict," the official said."France has also joined with us in trying to strengthen the moderate opposition within Syria and promoting a political resolution through the Geneva II process." Beyond those security issues, there is a broad economic agenda, the official said."The Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership is one of the most ambitious trans-Atlantic projects that we have had in many years, and it has great potential to create jobs on both sides of the Atlantic, and we are working on an ambitious timeline to negotiate that agreement," the official said. "And we have of course worked with France over the course of the last several years to encourage policies that promote growth in Europe and in the global economy generally."