Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and close advisor to President-elect Donald Trump, met with an Iranian official to ease tensions with the United States, reports the New York Times.
“Elon Musk met with Iran's ambassador to the United Nations in New York on Monday for a session that two Iranian officials described as a discussion on ways to ease tensions between Iran and the United States,” the American daily states.
According to the Iranians, the meeting between Musk and Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani lasted over an hour and took place in a secret location. The Iranian officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to discuss policy publicly, described the meeting as “positive” and “good news.”
“We do not comment on reports of private meetings that may or may not have occurred,” said Steven Cheung, Trump’s communications director, when asked about the existence of such a meeting. Musk did not respond to the NYT’s request for comment.
The newspaper also notes that during a call last week with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Donald Trump “handed the phone to the billionaire.” Musk has played a key role in providing communications capabilities to Ukraine in its war against Russia.
Donald Trump, set to return to the White House in a few weeks, was the architect of a so-called “maximum pressure” policy toward Iran during his first term. He reinstated heavy sanctions against Tehran that had been lifted as part of a historic nuclear agreement reached in 2015.
