Elon Musk Reportedly Met With Iran’s UN Ambassador

Topline

Billionaire Elon Musk, who played a major role in President-elect Donald Trump’s campaigning and has been acting as an adviser to Trump, met with Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations earlier this week, The New York Times reported—as many expect he will soon play a large role in a Trump administration.

Key Facts

The Times—citing two unnamed Iranian officials—reported Musk met with the ambassador, Amir Saeid Iravani, for more than an hour at a secret location in New York on Monday.

The two Iranian officials said Musk and Iravani discussed how to defuse tensions between the U.S. and Iran and that the meeting was “positive” and “good news.”

Since Trump became the president-elect last week, Musk—who was one of Trump’s most prolific supporters, donating more than $118 million toward Trump election efforts after endorsing him in July—reportedly has taken on a significant role in Cabinet appointments and conversations with other world leaders.

Forbes has reached out to Trump’s team and Musk for confirmation and comment.

Key Background

Iran and the United States—and Iran and Trump—have had a fraught relationship in recent years, though Musk’s conversation with the UN ambassador may be a sign of “a change in tone between Tehran and Washington,” the Times reported. In Trump’s first term, he pulled the U.S. out of the Iran nuclear deal, which he called “a bad deal” but was considered a foreign policy highlight of President Barack Obama’s tenure, and ordered the country’s top general be killed. Iran’s supreme leader, who still holds that title and must approve any deals, banned “negotiations on any level” with the Trump administration during his first term. During the most recent campaign season, the U.S. intelligence community said Iran was responsible for hacking Trump’s campaign and was trying to “stoke discord and undermine confidence in our democratic institutions.” Last week the U.S. filed charges against three people who were allegedly tasked with assassinating Trump before Election Day.

Forbes Valuation

Forbes estimates Musk to have a net worth of about $298.4 billion as of Thursday afternoon, making him the wealthiest person in the world.

Tangent

Trump announced earlier this week he was giving Musk the role of co-leading the new “Department Of Government Efficiency” with Vivek Ramaswamy. Musk proposed the department, known as DOGE, as a way to cut down on government bureaucracy, and Trump said in his announcement the commission will “slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies.” It appears the entity is not being proposed as an official government agency despite its name but will rather be an advisory board.

Further Reading