This was the first public report of the weapons-for-hostages deal . The operation was discovered only after an airlift of guns ( Corporate Air Services HPF821 ) was downed over Nicaragua . Eugene Hasenfus , who was captured by Nicaraguan authorities after surviving the plane crash , initially alleged in a press conference on Nicaraguan soil that two of his coworkers , Max Gomez and Ramon Medina , worked for the Central Intelligence Agency . He later said he did not know whether they did or not . The Iranian government confirmed the '' Ash-Shiraa '' story , and ten days after the story was first published , President Reagan appeared on national television from the Oval Office on 13 November , stating : My purpose was ... to send a signal that the United States was prepared to replace the animosity between the U.S. and Iran with a new relationship ... At the same time we undertook this initiative , we made clear that Iran must oppose all forms of international terrorism as a condition of progress in our relationship . The most significant step which Iran could take , we indicated , would be to use its influence in Lebanon to secure the release of all hostages held there . The scandal was compounded when Oliver North destroyed or hid pertinent documents between 21 November and 25 November 1986 . During North 's trial in 1989 , his secretary , Fawn Hall , testified extensively about helping North alter , shred , and remove official United States National Security Council ( NSC ) documents from the White House . According to '' The New York Times '' , enough documents were put into a government shredder to jam it . North 's explanation for destroying some documents was to protect the lives of individuals involved in Iran and Contra operations . It was not until 1993 , years after the trial , that North 's notebooks were made public , and only after the National Security Archive and Public Citizen sued the Office of the Independent Counsel under the Freedom of Information Act
Corporate Air Services HPF821
Corporate Air Services HPF821
Iran–Contra affair