Iran-Contra Affair

The Iran-Contra Affair was one of the biggest fiascos and embarrassments of the entire Reagan administration. In 1986 the United States sold arms to Iran, a sworn enemy, as a means of providing funding for the Contras, an anti-communist guerilla organization based out of Nicaragua. The government could no longer fund the Contras directly because of the Boland Amendment, which made doing so illegal. The arms sales were revealed to the public in November of 1986. They had been revealed by a Lebanese newspaper that claimed the arms sales were part of a negotiation for the release of hostages taken by Hezbollah, an Islamist militant group based out of Lebanon. Upon the release of such information Reagan spoke on national television to deny the charge that his administration had played in role in sales. However Reagan made another statement on November 13, 1986, he admitted that arms had been transferred to Iran but he denied any connection between the transfer and hostage negotiations.