Elon Musk met with Iran's ambassador to the UN Amir Saeid Iravani on Monday in New York, the New York Times said late on Thursday, citing two Iranian officials. The meeting lasted more than an hour and was held at a secret location. It was described as "positive" and "good news."
According to one of the Iranian officials, it was Musk who had requested the meeting and the ambassador picked the site. Musk did not respond to questions from the Times.
“We do not comment on reports of private meetings that did or did not occur.” Trump's communications director Steven Cheung said. Karoline Leavitt, the transition spokeswoman for the incoming Trump-Vance administration, said in a statement: “The American people re-elected President Trump because they trust him to lead our country and restore peace through strength around the world. When he returns to the White House, he will take the necessary action to do just that.”
The Iranian officials told the Times that the meeting was an opportunity for Iran to avoid sitting directly with an American official, although Musk will soon join the new administration as co-director of a government efficiency agency that is planned.
An official in Iran's Foreign Ministry said that Ambassador Iravani suggested that Musk should obtain sanctions exemptions from the U.S. Treasury and bring some of his businesses to Tehran. Iran’s mission to the United Nations said it would not publicly comment on the meeting.
"An early direct meeting between a senior Iranian official and Mr. Musk raises the possibility of a change in tone between Tehran and Washington under the Trump administration, despite a charged history between the president-elect and Iran," the New York Times wrote.
During his campaign Trump criticized the Biden administration for lifting sanctions on Iran, that were part of Trump's "maximum pressure" campaign during his first term as president. Trump withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal and imposed severe economic sanctions. He was also the president who gave the order to assassinate Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps chief Qasem Soleimani in 2020.
In September Trump said the U.S. must make a deal with Iran adding he would have been ready to reach an agreement with Iran within a week after the elections were he reelected in 2020. " I would’ve made a fair deal with Iran. I was gonna get along with Iran. The deal was simple: Iran can’t have a nuclear missile. It cannot have that nuclear capability," he said.
Iran was also behind an attempt to assassinate Trump recently but after he won the elections, some in Iran, including officials who spoke to the paper said his term could be used as a diplomatic opportunity and that a deal, could be reached with him adding that the president-elect like succeeding in deals where others have failed.
President Biden greets Donald Trump at the White House
(Reuters)
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Arghachi said in a post last Thursday that differences could be resolved through cooperation and dialogue. "We agreed to proceed with courage and good will. Iran has never left the negotiation table on its peaceful nuclear program,” he said in a post on X after a meeting in Tehran with IAEA chief Rafael Grossi.
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