The Iran-Contra Affair During the Reagan Administration

The Iran Contra Affair was the result of the Reagan administration’s foreign policies. Nicaragua and Iran were the subject of an arms embargo. However, senior officials within the administration secretly sold weapons to both countries. The affair became the object of an international scandal after details of the arrangement with Iran were published in the Lebanese magazine Ash-Shiraa.

From 1936 till 1979, Nicaragua was ruled by two dictators - Somoza Garcia and his son Anastasio Somoza Debayle. After decades of bitter protests, the Sandinista rebels finally seized power in 1979. The land reforms and the nationalization program that the new regime brought in, proved extremely unpopular among the Nicaraguans, and this gave rise to a counter-revolution. The new government also fell out of favor with the US because of its pro Soviet stance. The Reagan administration, therefore, decided to support the counter-revolutionaries, or Contras, and provided them with financial, operational and material support.

1979 also saw the overthrow of Iran’s authoritarian ruler, Mohammad Raza Shah Pehlavi. The secular and US friendly government of the Shah was replaced by a radical, and fundamentalist one headed by Ayatollah Khomeini. One of the first acts of Khomeini were to break all ties with the US. The US tried to improve relations with the new government, as Iran was a key ally in the Middle East, and had strategic importance in its proximity to Russia. However, in November 1979, a group of young revolutionaries attacked the US embassy in Tehran and held over fifty American citizens and diplomats hostage for 444 days. The actions of the group were supported by the government and the general public. This further aggravated the situation and drove the two countries further apart.

The success of Iran’s Shiite fundamentalist revolution caused panic among the Sunni minority of Iraq. The Ba’athist government, motivated by similar fears, attacked Iran in 1980. The war took its toll on Iranian society and its economy. In 1985, facing an acute shortage of weapons, Iran sought the help of the Americans to help it replenish its cache of arms. In its bid to re-establish diplomatic relations with its former ally, the US agreed to secretly supply the Iranians with weapons via Israel.

This arrangement was exposed by a Lebanese magazine, Ash-Shiraa, in 1986. The story was acknowledged by Iran, and later by President Reagan himself. The Iran-Contra Affair was later investigated by a President-appointed commission, the Tower Commission, and a separate Congressional Committee. The affair not only resulted in a drop in the President’s approval ratings, but also affected the credibility of the US on the global stage.