The billionaire Elon Muskwho will head the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in Donald Trump’s next administration, met on Monday with the ambassador of Iran at the UN to ease strained bilateral relations, as reported by the newspaper The New York Times.
The meeting between Musk and the Iranian ambassador, Amir Saeid Iravani, took place for more than an hour at a secret locationaccording to two Iranian officials cited by The New York Times in the article, published on Thursday, and indicated that the meeting took place to evaluate how to relax relations between the countries.
The Iranians, who remained anonymous, said the meeting was to assess how to de-escalate relations between the countries, described the appointment as “positive” and “good news.”and one of them assured that it was Musk who requested the meeting and that the diplomat chose the site.
The meeting came a day before Trump announced he was placing Musk at the helm of the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE, a nod to the billionaire’s favorite cryptocurrency), and further evidences the clout of Tesla’s CEO. in the future cabinet of the US president-elect.
It also suggests the possibility of a change in tone, notes NYT, between Tehran and Washington under the new Trump administration, which in its previous term (2017-2021) pushed for a campaign of “maximum pressure” on Iran with economic sanctions and abandonment of the 2015 nuclear deal.
Iran’s President Masud Pezeshkian said Thursday that his country is ready to cooperate and to clarify the peaceful nature of its nuclear activities during a meeting in Tehran with the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, and recalled that it complies with the obligations of the pact, which limited its program in exchange for the lifting of sanctions.
Trump’s return marks a question mark over. the course of Israel’s wars over Gaza and Lebanon.. On the one hand, it maintains constant support for Israel, whose prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahuassured this Sunday that he has had three calls with Trump since his election, emphasizing the “Iranian threat” as one of the key issues in them.
On the other, already in his first speech after winning the election, the Republican leader assured that he did not want wars: “I’m not going to start a war. I’m going to stop them, he proclaimed.