Iran 'categorically' denies envoy's meeting with Musk

TEHRAN: Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei Saturday “categorically” denied The New York Times report on Tehran’s United Nations envoy meeting with US tech billionaire Elon Musk, state media reported.

In an interview with state news agency IRNA, Baghaei was reported as “categorically denying such a meeting” and expressing “surprise at the coverage of the American media in this regard”.

Iranian media was divided over a reported meeting between Tehran’s ambassador to the United Nations and tech billionaire Elon Musk — with some describing as “positive” while others called it “treason”.

The New York Times reported on Friday that Musk, who is a close ally of President-elect Donald Trump, met earlier this week with Iran’s ambassador to the UN, Amir Saeid Iravani.

The Times cited anonymous Iranian sources describing the encounter as “positive,” though neither the Trump transition team nor Iran’s UN mission confirmed the meeting.

Iranian media outlets, particularly those aligned with the reformist party that supports President Masoud Pezeshkian, largely described the meeting in positive terms.

The Ham Mihan reformist daily noted that “the strategy of the Iranian diplomatic team is on target and has elicited a reciprocal and positive response from the American side”.

Sazandegi, another reformist outlet, interpreted the meeting as an indication of Iran engaging in “secret diplomacy” with the United States.

While it portrayed it as a “positive” development, it nonetheless stressed that it should not be exaggerated.

Musk has been tipped as the co-chair of Trump’s proposed Department of Government Efficiency.

The ultraconservative Kayhan daily criticised the reported meeting as “naivety or treason” against Iran, slamming Trump for exiting the Iran nuclear deal.

The paper said Trump “must pay damages to Iran for violating the nuclear agreement”, which was signed in 2015 between Iran and Western powers.

The deal gave Iran relief from economic sanctions in exchange for controls on its nuclear programme, which Iran has consistently maintained is for peaceful purposes.

The conservative Jomhuri Eslami newspaper stated that the interaction “can be viewed as the beginning of a new path in Iran’s foreign policy”, though it did not name Musk, instead describing him as Trump’s representative.

Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, countries that severed ties with Iran have used the Swiss embassy in Tehran and the Sultanate of Oman to communicate with the Islamic republic.