President-elect Donald Trump appeared stunned to hear that Elon Musk met with Iran's ambassador to the United Nations.
Trump was asked about the meeting during his sit-down with Time Magazine journalists as he was once again named 'Person of the Year.'
The New York Times and other outlets reported that Musk met with Iran's U.N. Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani in New York six days after Trump won reelection.
'I don't know what he met with them,' Trump said when asked if the meeting was at the president-elect's behest. 'I don't know. He didn't tell me that.'
Two Iranian officials told The Times that the meeting was about how to defuse tensions between the two countries.
During his first term, Trump pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal that was negotiated during Democratic President Barack Obama's presidency.
Then, in January 2020, the U.S. assassinated the commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard's elite Quds Force, Gen. Qasem Soleimani, via drone strike outside the Baghdad airport.
On November 8, 2024 - three days after Trump won the election over Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris - Manhattan federal prosecutors charged Farhad Shakeri with murder-for-hire in a Iranian-backed plot to assassinate the Republican nominee ahead of Election Day.
Shakeri, an Afghan man, remains at-large, and is suspected to be living in Iran.
Shakeri told FBI officials in September that he was directed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to surveil and kill Trump.
In August, prosecutors in Brooklyn charged a Pakistani man suspected of targeting high-ranking U.S. politicians for assassination on behalf of Iran by hiring hit men to do the job.
Trump was possibly a target in this plot as well, as he's been in the crosshairs of Iran since ordering Soleimani's killing.
Musk's November 11 meeting with Iravani came three days after Shakeri was charged.
The tech billionaire was at Trump's side during election night celebrations at Mar-a-Lago and has stayed close since.
Trump tapped Musk and 2024 GOP presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy to run the Department of Government Efficiency or DOGE.
In the interview, the Time journalists pointed out that Trump gave Musk the power to regulate government agencies that regulate his businesses including Tesla, SpaceX and X.
They asked Trump if that's a conflict of interest.
'I don't think so,' he replied. 'Look, we have a country that is bloated with rules, regulations and with, frankly, people that are unnecessary to do.'
'We are going to need a lot of people in a lot of other jobs,' Trump continued. 'We're looking to get people into private sector jobs where they can do better and be more productive.'
'We're going to see what happens. We have some interesting months coming up, at the beginning. We're going to see what happens. But this country is bloated,' the incoming president said.