Reagan's second-term administration officials were involved in the Iran-contra affair.
The Iran-Contra affair was a political scandal in the United States revealed by the media in November 1986 during President Ronald Reagan's second term in which key CIA figures facilitated arms trafficking to Iran, which was subject to a arms embargo to secure the release of hostages and to fund the Nicaraguan Contras.
The operation began as an attempt to improve relations between the United States and Iran through the mediation of Israel, which would send arms to a politically influential group of Iranians; the United States would then provide more weapons to Israel and receive the payment made by the Iranians to the Israelis. Iranian recipients vowed to do their utmost to secure the release of six Americans held hostage by the Lebanese Shiite Islamist group Hezbollah, which was linked to the Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution.
The plan eventually became a "hostage weapon" scheme, in which members of the United States Executive Branch sold arms to Iran in exchange for the release of American hostages.
After the arms sale was revealed by the press in November 1986, Reagan appeared on a national television network to claim that the arms transfers actually occurred, but that the United States was not negotiating arms for hostages. The investigation of the scandal was compromised when large volumes of documents relating to the case were either destroyed or retained by Reagan administration officials. On March 4, 1987, Reagan made another televised speech taking full responsibility for any actions taken without his knowledge and admitting that "what began as a strategic opening in relations with Iran has deteriorated in its implementation in the exchange of arms for hostages ".
