A new trigonal phase with composition Al13Fe3 (tridecaaluminium triiron) was obtained in the binary Fe–Al diagram by high-pressure sintering (HPS) of a stoichiometric Al3Fe mixture. The refined crystal structure agrees with the descriptions of an unresolved rhombohedral phase reported 30 years ago [Chandrasekaran et al. (1988). Scr. Metall. 22, 797–802]. The structure was refined as an inversion twin with a ratio of 0.506 (18):0.494 (18) for the two twin components.