Iran on Wednesday ratcheted up the pressure on the European Union, warning the 27-nation bloc, which it accuses of meddling in its presidential election, that it was no longer qualified to hold talks on the Islamic republic’s nuclear programme.

Major-General Hassan Firouz-Abadi, the military chief of staff, declared that the alleged “interference of this [EU] in the post-election riots” means the bloc had “lost its qualification to hold nuclear talks.”