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.

The Iranian government is denying reports in U.S. outlets that one of their diplomats met with tech billionaire Elon Musk this week. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said Saturday that claims Musk met with the country’s permanent representative in New York were untrue,