Why is Elon Musk Negotiating With Iran?
Elon Musk is apparently trying to broker some kind of agreement between the United States and Iran. The tech mogul and world’s richest man met with Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations in New York on Monday, The New York Times reports, citing two anonymous Iranian officials. The meeting, held in a secret location, reportedly focused on how to defuse tensions between the two countries and lasted for over an hour. The two officials said the meeting was “positive” and “good news,” according to the Times. Neither Donald Trump’s campaign nor Musk commented on the meeting. In the past week, Musk has been spending a lot of time with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate, and also traveled to Washington with him. This raises the question of whether Musk was meeting with Iranian officials on Trump’s orders. According to the Times, Musk requested the meeting and the ambassador picked the location. The president-elect included the tech CEO on a phone call last week with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy only hours after Trump won the election, so it wouldn’t be Musk’s first dip into Trump’s foreign policy communications. Musk has reportedly engaged in secret talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to a Wall Street Journal report last month, and Russia is allied with Iran. Trump also has a worrying relationship with Putin and Russia, which raises questions about whether Musk’s Monday meeting also has to do with Russia. The meeting could also signal a change in tone between Iran and the United States. Relations between the two countries have not been positive since Trump’s first term, when he infamously dissolved the nuclear deal with Iran negotiated by the Obama administration and approved the assassination of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani in 2020. U.S. support for Israel’s brutal war against Gaza and Lebanon under the Biden administration has not helped matters either, especially since Iran backs the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, the stated target of Israeli bombing. Trump has been a staunch supporter of Israel’s war and attacked President Biden for insufficient support of the country, which considers Iran its top enemy. A Washington Post report Wednesday said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was seeking to give Trump an inauguration gift of a cease-fire with Lebanon. Maybe Trump hopes to make a grand show of “good deals” in the Middle East to start off his presidency. Or, as was the case in his first presidential term’s foreign policy efforts, his overtures may end up going nowhere.
Elon Musk is apparently trying to broker some kind of agreement between the United States and Iran.
The tech mogul and world’s richest man met with Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations in New York on Monday, The New York Times reports, citing two anonymous Iranian officials. The meeting, held in a secret location, reportedly focused on how to defuse tensions between the two countries and lasted for over an hour.
The two officials said the meeting was “positive” and “good news,” according to the Times. Neither Donald Trump’s campaign nor Musk commented on the meeting. In the past week, Musk has been spending a lot of time with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate, and also traveled to Washington with him.
This raises the question of whether Musk was meeting with Iranian officials on Trump’s orders. According to the Times, Musk requested the meeting and the ambassador picked the location. The president-elect included the tech CEO on a phone call last week with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy only hours after Trump won the election, so it wouldn’t be Musk’s first dip into Trump’s foreign policy communications.
Musk has reportedly engaged in secret talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to a Wall Street Journal report last month, and Russia is allied with Iran. Trump also has a worrying relationship with Putin and Russia, which raises questions about whether Musk’s Monday meeting also has to do with Russia.
The meeting could also signal a change in tone between Iran and the United States. Relations between the two countries have not been positive since Trump’s first term, when he infamously dissolved the nuclear deal with Iran negotiated by the Obama administration and approved the assassination of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani in 2020. U.S. support for Israel’s brutal war against Gaza and Lebanon under the Biden administration has not helped matters either, especially since Iran backs the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, the stated target of Israeli bombing.
Trump has been a staunch supporter of Israel’s war and attacked President Biden for insufficient support of the country, which considers Iran its top enemy. A Washington Post report Wednesday said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was seeking to give Trump an inauguration gift of a cease-fire with Lebanon. Maybe Trump hopes to make a grand show of “good deals” in the Middle East to start off his presidency. Or, as was the case in his first presidential term’s foreign policy efforts, his overtures may end up going nowhere.
