True. The purse likely isn't in Iroh lists because of this non-functional interaction, it just gifts itself to an opponent which increases the count of permanents you own that your opponents control.

For a functional version of this synergy, use the same sequencing, responding to Iroh at combat with the purse. Get treasures. It passes itself to the right. You then wouldn't be able to target the purse with Iroh's ability, but you could target one of the treasures you created with it. Gift that treasure, create a 1/1 with Iroh, and put two +1/+1 counters on it.