Donald Trump

Iranian General Helped Iraq Seize City From US Ally: Sources

"It is a catastrophic defeat for the United States," said one adviser to the Bush and Obama administrations

A few days after President Donald Trump announced his get-tough approach to Iran, one of its top military commanders helped engineer the seizure of an important Iraqi city from a U.S. regional ally, Iraqi, Kurdish and American officials told NBC News.

Iran brokered seizure of oil-rich Kirkuk from the Kurds by the Iraqi government and the Shiite militias it partners with, according to former U.S. national security officials. The move heightens the risk of civil war in Iraq, and amounts to an embarrassing strategic blow for the United States.

"It is a catastrophic defeat for the United States and a fantastic victory for Iran's Revolutionary Guard, proving that Qassem Soleimani gets his way once again," said Ali Khedery, a senior adviser on Iraq policy in the Bush and Obama administrations.

Soleimani, who heads up the Iranian military's special forces and extraterritorial operations, helped negotiate a deal in which one Kurdish faction would abandon its positions to allow Iraqi government forces and Iranian-supported militias to take the city uncontested, Kurdish and former U.S. intelligence officials said.

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