Speaking of Iran and Reagan, I found this at foreignaffairs.org. How soon we forget:

The revelation of covert arms dealing with Iran, as part of this activity, detonated a domestic political crisis for the President much greater than anything else he had faced during six years of office. It also contributed to a serious credibility gap with Western allies and friendly governments in the Middle East and damaged the moral authority of the Administration to lead the common international effort against terrorism. There appeared to be blatant contradictions between the secret arms deals and repeated policy statements calling for no concessions to terrorists and an international arms embargo against Iran and other states supporting terrorism—both issues on which the United States had taken the world lead.