The Iran-Contra scheme is exposed, November 3, 1986
It is the greatest crisis of Ronald Reagan’s presidency. An Iranian cleric, Mehdi Hashemi, leaked news that the United States is selling arms to Iran in exchange for the release of American hostages throughout the Middle East. The news is published in Ash-Shiraa, a Lebanese magazine. The operation was discovered after an airlift of weapons was downed over Nicaragua. A memorandum, overlooked in a subsequent frenzy of document shredding by Oliver North and his secretary, Fawn Hall, links the Reagan administration to the illegal arms sales.