Billionaire Elon Musk spoke privately with Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations on Monday in a meeting aimed at easing tensions between the U.S. and Iran, per a report from the New York Times.
Musk and Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani spoke for over an hour in a New York meeting that Iranian officials said was “good news.” Those same officials said Musk called for the meeting, and the ambassador picked the location.
Tensions between the United States and Iran nearly came to a head in the final year of President-elect Donald Trump’s first term in office. Trump pulled out of a nuclear deal with Iran that was struck by the Obama administration in 2015. Relations soured further when Trump ordered the assassination of top Iranian General Qassem Soleimani. Iran has allegedly plotted to assassinate Trump in recent months.
Trump spokesperson Stephen Cheung declined to comment on the meeting to the Times, calling it a “private [meeting] that did or did not occur.”
It is unclear whether Musk was meeting with the diplomat on behalf of the president-elect. It would be a crime for Musk to negotiate with Iran on behalf of the United States as a private citizen.
The conversation is the second time in a week that the president-elect has entrusted Musk with a key diplomatic conversation. Last week, the SpaceX CEO sat in on a call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The Tesla CEO and X owner made massive contributions to Trump’s White House bid and gained the president-elect’s ear early in the transition process. Musk has been spotted at Mar-a-Lago in the days since election night. Trump tapped him and Vivek Ramaswamy to lead the as-yet-nonexistent Department of Government Efficiency.
