Elon Musk met with Iran’s UN ambassador, NYT reports

Billionaire Elon Musk, who is an adviser to U.S. 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 newspaper reported that the meeting was a discussion of how to defuse tensions between Iran and the United States.

The Iranians said the meeting between Mr. Musk and Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani lasted more than an hour and was held at a secret location. The Iranians, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss policy publicly, described the meeting as “positive” and “good news.”

Asked about whether there was such a session, Steven Cheung, Mr. Trump’s communications director, said, “We do not comment on reports of private meetings that did or did not occur.” Mr. Musk did not respond to a request for comment.

Mr. Musk has emerged as the most powerful private citizen in the Trump transition, and has sat in on nearly every job interview. During a call last week with Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, the president-elect handed the phone to the billionaire. Mr. Musk has played a key role in providing communications capability to Ukraine in the war with Russia.

An early direct meeting between a senior Iranian official and Mr. Musk raises the possibility of a change in tone between Tehran and Washington under the Trump administration, despite a charged history between the president-elect and Iran. One of the Iranian officials said that it was Mr. Musk who had requested the meeting and that the ambassador picked the site.

During his first term Mr. Trump pulled the United States out of the 2015 nuclear accord between Iran and world powers, calling it “a horrible one-sided deal that should have never, ever been made,” and imposed tough economic sanctions on Iranian oil revenues and international banking transactions. He also ordered the assassination of a top Iranian general, Qassim Suleimani, in Iraq in 2020.

In response, Iran’s supreme leader banned any negotiations with the Trump administration and Iranian officials vowed to avenge Mr. Suleimani’s killing. Federal prosecutors said in a court filing last week that Iran had plotted to assassinate Mr. Trump before the election.

But in the wake of Mr. Trump’s election last week, Iran has been openly debating whether it can now reach a new and more lasting deal with the United States. Many members of President Masoud Pezeshkian’s new government favor negotiating, arguing that Mr. Trump likes to make deals and that there may be an opportunity to get the sanctions lifted.

Many in the conservative faction in Iran oppose engagement with Mr. Trump, and any negotiations — or deal — must be approved by the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Mr. Trump has been an avid supporter of Israel, which has been waging war on the Iranian-backed militias Hamas and Hezbollah since the Oct. 7 attack last year.

On Thursday, in a post on X, Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said: “Differences can be resolved through cooperation and dialogue. We agreed to proceed with courage and good will. Iran has never left the negotiation table on its peaceful nuclear program.”

Mr. Araghchi made the comments following a meeting in Tehran with Rafael Grossi, the head of the U.N.’s atomic watchdog.

Analysts said that for all the history of bad blood with Mr. Trump, the Iranians appeared to want to keep the door to diplomacy open. Mr. Trump, too, appears interested, they said.

“Overall, everything is possible with Trump,” said Ali Vaez, the Iran director for the International Crisis Group. “He appears to be interested in a deal with Iran.” But some advisers, he said, may favor other approaches, among them increasing the pressure on Iran.

The two Iranian officials said that the meeting with Mr. Musk provided a workaround for Iran, allowing it to avoid sitting directly with an American official. Mr. Musk will, however, have an official role soon. He has been named as the co-director of a new government efficiency agency.

One Iranian Foreign Ministry official said that Ambassador Iravani told Mr. Musk during the meeting that he should obtain sanctions exemptions from the Treasury and bring some of his businesses to Tehran.

Iran’s mission to the United Nations said it would not publicly comment on the meeting.