Why did president Ronald regan support funding the Nicaraguan rebels with money made from selling weapons to iran?

Answer : In the Iran-Contra affair, the Reagan administration secretly sold weapons to Iran to effect the release of American hostages held in Lebanon.

Money from the Iran weapons-sale then was used to fund the Contras, a group of guerrilla "freedom fighters" opposed to the Marxist government of Nicaragua.

Both the sale of arms to Iran and the military aid to the Contras were illegal, and Colonel Oliver North and others in the president's administration were dismissed and charged with breaking the law.