The New York Times: Musk met with Iranian ambassador to the United Nations to discuss reducing tensions under the Trump administration
Billionaire Elon Musk, a close ally of US President-elect Donald Trump, met with Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations in an attempt to defuse tensions between Tehran and Washington, The New York Times reported Thursday.
The New York Times quoted two unnamed Iranian sources as saying that the meeting between the world’s richest man and Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani was positive meeting.
The New York Times reported that the two men met for more than an hour in a secret location on Monday.
The Iranian ambassador also urged Musk in their meeting to seek waivers from US sanctions and do business in Tehran, the newspaper quoted an Iranian Foreign Ministry official as saying.
Neither the Trump team nor Iran’s mission to the United Nations immediately confirmed the meeting.
If confirmed, it would send an early signal that Trump is serious about engaging Iran and not taking the more hardline approach favored by many conservatives in his Republican Party as well as Israel.
This once again demonstrates the exceptional influence of the owner of Tesla and X platform, with his constant presence alongside Trump and his participation in the president-elect’s phone calls with world leaders.
In his last term, Trump withdrew from the nuclear deal with Iran that was concluded under his predecessor, Barack Obama, and instead sought to pursue a policy of maximum pressure on Tehran that included forcing countries not to buy Iranian oil.
But Trump presents himself as a dealmaker, and during his last campaign he expressed openness to diplomacy despite his vocal support for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who ordered military strikes on Iran in conjunction with Israel’s war on Hamas.
Iran expressed its desire on Thursday to remove ambiguity and doubts about its nuclear program, while stressing that it won’t negotiate under pressure and intimidation, during its hosting of the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, who said that joint work with Tehran keeps us away from war.
