Protesters destroy a billboard to erect barricades near the presidential palace in Tegucigalpa on June 29, 2009. Honduras interim leader Roberto Micheletti imposed a nationwide 48-hour curfew after the army ousted elected President Manuel Zelaya on June 28. (Orlando Sierra/AFP/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON—U.S. President Barack Obama said on Monday it would set a "terrible precedent" if the coup in Honduras was not reversed and President Manuel Zelaya restored to power.

Obama, after a meeting in the Oval Office with Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, said Washington would work with the Organization of American States and others to reinstate Zelaya.