It's also much more likely tied to the October Surprise conspiracy theory, and that Reagan negotiated with the Iranians behind Carter's back, an attempt to dissuade them from releasing the hostages before the election so that Carter wouldn't be boosted in the polls.

When the conspiracy theory initially came out, people said it was crazy, even though the Iranians who were in charge all said they had an agreement with Reagan. When Iran Contra was exposed a year or two later, it added a lot of credibility to something people had already forgotten about.