The election of a new hardline president in Tehran is likely to complicate the Islamic Republic's engagement with the European Union just as the UK, France and Germany prepare to make a detailed offer to Iran on curbing its controversial nuclear programme.

Although Iranian officials have quickly moved to ease concerns of a change in policy on the nuclear front, European officials yesterday warned that the victory of Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad, the ultra-conservative mayor of Tehran, had made the European policy of engagement, whether on the political, economic or nuclear front, harder to pursue.