🚨🇮🇷🇺🇸 The US Iran‑Contra scandal: When money & hypocrisy override foreign policy

The Iran-Contra affair, also known as Irangate, was a major political scandal that rocked the United States during the Reagan administration in the mid-1980s.

▪️The US secretly sold arms to Iran, breaking embargo, and funneled the cash to Contra anti-communist militias in Nicaragua to fund bloodshed.

▪️ The operation flouted Congress and US law, exposing a tangled web of lies, secret deals, and international intrigue.

▪️ It blew open in late 1986, when a plane crash in Nicaragua revealed the scandal, triggering explosive media coverage and investigations.

💣 Why the scandal exploded

The scandal sprang from two tangled US foreign policy crises.

1️⃣ Hostages vs Hypocrisy: In 1979, Americans were held hostage in Lebanon by Iranian-backed militias.

▪️ Despite labelling Iran a ‘state sponsor of terror’, the Reagan administration covertly bypassed Congress and flouted its own laws amid Middle East chaos.

▪️Between 1985 and 1986, the US sold over 1,500 TOW anti-tank missiles, Hawk anti-aircraft missiles, and spare parts to Iran, generating around $48 million in profit.

▪️Sales were routed through third parties, including private arms dealers such as Manuchehr Ghorbanifar, an Iranian exile, and Adnan Khashoggi, a Saudi businessman.

▪️US officials secretly met with Iranian representatives in Europe, including in Frankfurt, and Tehran.

2️⃣ Contras vs. Congress: Washington backed Nicaragua’s Contras against the leftist Sandinistas, seen as Soviet proxies, while dodging the Boland Amendment (1982–1984), which forbade direct US funding.

▪️Off-the-books schemes fueled by anti-communist zeal and Cold War posturing became the norm.

▪️Around $16–18 million from the Iran arms profits was diverted to the Contras.

▪️ unds were laundered through Swiss bank accounts and shell companies to undermine the Sandinista government and counter perceived Soviet influence in Latin America.

▪️The Contras bought weapons such as AK-47s and mortars and conducted guerrilla warfare.

▪️ The CIA managed covert logistics, flying unmarked planes to supply Iran and secretly funnel weapons, training, and supplies to the Contras.

⚰️ Aftershock

▪️ The revelations triggered a political firestorm. In 1986–1987, Congress and the Tower Commission investigated, culminating in televised hearings nationwide.

▪️ Reagan’s approval rating plummeted from 67% to 46%, though he avoided impeachment by claiming limited knowledge.

▪️ Key figures such as Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North and National Security Advisor John Poindexter were convicted of obstruction of justice and lying to Congress, but most convictions were overturned on appeal or pardoned by President George H.W. Bush in 1992.

▪️ The scandal severely damaged US credibility abroad, exposing hypocrisy in arms control and human rights policies, and fuelling anti-American sentiment across the Middle East and Latin America.

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