On March 16, 1988, Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North and Vice Admiral John Poindexter were indicted on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States in what has been labeled as the Iran-Contra affair.

The Iran-Contra affair began in August 1985 as a strategic operation to improve U.S.-Iranian relations. Basically, Israel shipped weapons to a group of politically influential Iranians, after which the U.S. would resupply Israel and receive the Israeli payment. The arms were sold through Israel because it was illegal at that time to sell arms to Iran. So, Israel acted as a “middleman” between the U.S. and Iran in the shipment of weapons.

The Iranians who received the weapons promised to do everything in their power to achieve the release of six U.S. hostages, who were being held by the Lebanese group Hezbollah. Hezbollah and other radical groups in the area had a strong history of hostage-taking, often referred to as the Lebanese hostage crisis. The Iran-Contra affair quickly devolved into an arms-for-hostages situation, in which members of the U.S. executive branch sold weapons to Iran in exchange for the release of the American hostages.

In December of 1985, Oliver North, a military aide to the United States National Security Council (NSC), proposed a new plan for selling arms to Iran. In North’s plan, arms were to be sold directly to Iran, and not through Israel. Also, a portion of the arms sales would go to Contras, or Nicaraguan guerilla fighters opposed to communism. The plan was approved by National Security Advisor John Poindexter without the knowledge of President Ronald Reagan. From February to November of 1986, weapons and miscellaneous parts were shipped to Iran and the Nicaraguan Contras.

The problem with North and Poindexter’s plan was that both the sale of weapons to Iran and the funding of the Contras circumvented Reagan’s policies, and went against laws, such as the Boland Amendment, which made these sales illegal. Further, despite this plan, none of the hostages were released.

In November of 1986, it was leaked that the United States was participating in a trade of arms for hostages with Iran. After the story was confirmed by the Iranian government, President Ronald Reagan also publicly confirmed the actions of the U.S. government. North and Poindexter immediately set out to cover their tracks by destroying physical proof of their actions, but ultimately they took the fall for the actions of the government.

Oliver North and John Poindexter were indicted on multiple charges on March 16, 1988, including several felony counts of conspiracy, lying to Congress, obstruction of justice, and altering and destroying documents pertinent to the investigation. President Reagan was investigated several times, but no evidence was ever found that he was aware of the extent of the situation.