It was so surprising because it went against the stated aims of the Ronald Reagan administration, to not negotiate with terrorists.

The story broke in the Ash Shiraa magazine in the Lebanon. It revealed that the USA were covertly selling arms to Iran in an attempt to get the release of 7 American hostages being held by a pro-Iranian group in the Lebanon.

These allegations were confirmed to be accurate, on November 6, by US intelligence sources.

It turned out that this was just the tip of the iceberg and that, in an attempt to cover up these dealings, the profits from the arms sales to Iran were diverted to fund the Contra rebels in Nicaragua. It became known as the Iran-Contra scandal and resulted in a number of high level resignations and sackings.

Ronald Reagan always denied that he knew that the proceeds of the arms sale to the Iranians went to fund the Contras in Nicaragua, but he admitted to knowing about the secret sale of arms to Iran.