What I remember is Reagan's people were negotiating and thus undermining and some say sabatoging Carter's efforts before Carter left office. This was called the October Surprise, supposedly engineered by George H W Bush, former head of the CIA and banker David Rockefeller. Dirty pool but that's politics. What I didn't know is that Reagan sold the Irani's cheap weapons for this deal. Probably inspired the Iran Contra Affair.
Here's some background.
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2006/102506.html