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

In an interview with state news agency IRNA, spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei was reported as “categorically denying claims made in some American media about a meeting between Elon Musk and Iran’s permanent representative to the United Nations in New York, expressed surprise at its wide coverage by the American media”.

The 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. It cited anonymous Iranian sources describing the encounter as “positive”.

In the weeks leading up to Trump’s re-election, Iranian officials have signalled a willingness to resolve issues with the West.

Tehran press divided over envoy’s reported meeting with Tesla’s CEO

Iran and the United States cut diplomatic ties shortly after the 1979 Islamic revolution that toppled the US-backed shah of Iran, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi. Since then, both countries have communicated through the Swiss embassy in Tehran and the Sultanate of Oman.

‘Secret diplomacy’

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

Iranian newspapers, particularly those aligned with the reformist party that supports President Masoud Pezeshkian, largely described the meeting in positive terms before Baghaei’s statement. 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 Shargh newspaper from the same political camp suggested that the encounter reflects “the result of Donald Trump’s active diplomacy”.

In contrast, 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.

Published in Dawn, November 17th, 2024