IRAN PLAYED SECRET ROLE IN LAND GRAB FROM U.S. ALLY 10/19/2017 7:42:47 PM Ceremony during raising the Iraqi flag at a government building in Kurdish region NBC News, Oct. 18, 2017  - Kurdish officials point to a Facebook video of a ceremony in which the Iraqi flag was raised at a government building. It shows two controversial figures on hand: Hadi al-Amiri, the head of the Badr Organization, an Iranian-backed political party; and Abu Mahdi Soleimani. who has been sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury for acts of violence against Americans, and is considered a close adviser to Soleimani. Three days before that flag raising, on Oct. 13, Trump announced his new Iran strategy. “Our policy is based on a clear-eyed assessment of the Iranian dictatorship, its sponsorship of terrorism, and its continuing aggression in the Middle East and all around the world,” Trump said. Trump also announced new sanctions on Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC). The timing of the Ki...