Iranian officials deny meeting with Elon Musk
Iran has "categorically" denied that its officials have met with tech billionaire Elon Musk.
Spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei was reported by news agency IRNA as expressing "surprise at the coverage of the American media in this regard" after a report in the New York Times.
The NYT said on Friday that Musk - a close ally of newly elected President Donald Trump - met earlier this week with Iran's ambassador to the UN, Amir Saeid Iravani, in a meeting that anonymous sources described as "positive".
According to the NYT, Iravani asked Musk to obtain a sanctions waiver from the US Treasury Department to bring his businesses to Tehran.
Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung said of the meeting: “We do not comment on reports of private meetings that did or did not occur.”
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A day later, Trump appointed Musk head of the yet non-existent Department of Government Efficiency (Doge). The unofficial department, which is advertising careers on X, is designed to slash government bureaucracy.
Reformist outlets had also described the Musk-Iravani meeting as positive before the official denial.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, a reformist, has since his election expressed a willingness to de-escalate tensions with the US.
During his previous tenure as president, Trump pulled the US out of the Iran nuclear deal negotiated by his predecessor, Barack Obama.
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