Billionaire Elon Musk, who is an adviser to US President-elect Donald Trump, met with Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations on Monday, the New York Times reported on Thursday, citing two Iranian officials.
The Iranian officials reportedly said the meeting between Musk and Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani in New York, lasting an hour, was held to diffuse tensions ahead of Donald Trump's return to the White House in January.
Trump announced Tuesday that Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy will lead a new “Department of Government Efficiency” in his second administration.
Neither Musk nor any of Trump's associates have commented on the meeting.
One of the Iranian officials said that it was Musk who had requested the meeting and that the ambassador picked the site, according to the NYT.
Relations between the US and Iran are expected to deteriorate further under Trump's administration. In 2015, Trump withdrew from the nuclear deal with Iran and imposed additional sanctions. He also ordered the assassination of Iranian Commander Qassem Soleimani in Iraq.
Despite this, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian’s new government favor negotiating, arguing that Trump likes to make deals and that there may be an opportunity to get the sanctions lifted.
Analysts have raised concerns regarding the potential escalation of violence in the Middle East under Trump, risking a regional war centering Iran and Israel. Former CIA director and US defense secretary Leon Panetta said Donald Trump will as president give Benjamin Netanyahu a “blank check” in the Middle East, possibly opening the way for all-out war between Israel and Iran.
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