Tech billionaire Elon Musk, a close ally of US President-elect Donald Trump, met with the Iranian ambassador to the UN earlier this week, the New York Times reported on Thursday, citing two unnamed Iranian officials.
According to the NYT, Musk’s meeting with Amir Saeid Iravani took place in New York on Monday and was described by the paper’s Iranian sources as an attempt to “defuse tensions” between the US and Iran. The conversation was “positive” and “good news,” Iranian sources said.
Musk, who owns SpaceX, Tesla, and the social media platform X, has not commented on the matter. Trump spokesman Steven Cheung told the NYT that the president-elect would not comment on “reports of private meetings that did or did not occur.” The Iranian mission to the UN also declined to comment, according to the Washington Post.
The South African-born businessman is increasingly seen as one of the most important people in Trump’s inner circle. The incoming president recently announced that Musk would lead a newly created extra- governmental department tasked with increasing government efficiency.