Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks as he meets with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and other officials following an earthquake that hit Kermansheh province, in Tehran, Iran November 15, 2017. Leader.ir/Handout via REUTERS

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran has banned the teaching of English in primary schools, a senior education official said, after the country’s Supreme Leader said early learning of the language opened the way to a Western “cultural invasion”.

“Teaching English in government and non-government primary schools in the official curriculum is against laws and regulations,” Mehdi Navid-Adham, head of the state-run High Education Council, told state television late on Saturday.