[322] The attack was condemned by many countries; by an overwhelming vote, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution to condemn the attack and deem it a violation of the Charter and international law.[323]

Iran–Contra affair
Main article: Iran–Contra affair
Reagan receiving the Tower Commission Report on the Iran–Contra affair, February 1987
Reagan authorized William J. Casey to arm the Contras, fearing that Communists would take over Nicaragua if it remained under the leadership of the Sandinistas. Congress passed the 1982 Boland Amendment, prohibiting the CIA and United States Department of Defense from using their budgets to provide aid to the Contras. Still, the Reagan administration raised funds for the Contras from private donors and foreign governments.[324] When Congress learned that the CIA had secretly placed naval mines in Nicaraguan harbors, Congress passed a second Boland Amendment that barred granting any assistance to the Contras.[325] In reaction to the role Israel and the United States played in the Lebanese Civil War, Hezbollah began to take American hostages, holding eight Americans by the middle of 1985.