Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi on Saturday strongly denied a reported meeting between Tehran's United Nations envoy and U.S. billionaire Elon Musk, in an interview with state TV. Araqchi also warned that Iran was "prepared for confrontation or cooperation" in its dispute with the UN nuclear watchdog IAEA and Western countries within the body over its nuclear programme.

The tech billionaire, a top adviser to President-elect Donald J. Trump, was reported to have discussed ways to defuse tensions between Iran and the United States.

Elon Musk met Iran's ambassador to the UN a day before he was made joint head of Donald Trump's new cost cutting department, the BBC's US partner CBS has confirmed. The meeting took place at ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani 's residence in New York,