Iran's Health Ministry Denies Distributing Anti-Radiation Iodine Tablets Near Nuclear Sites, Calling The Times' Quotes Fabricated

Iran's Health Ministry has denied a report by Britain's The Times that Iran distributed anti-radiation iodine tablets to residents near nuclear sites. Hossein Kermanpour, head of the ministry's public relations and information center, wrote on X that no Health Ministry official had been interviewed by The Times and that quotes attributed to a ministry official in the report were fabricated. Iran's Nour News reported the ministry's rebuttal on November 7.

The Times' November 6 report, set against an underground facility near Natanz, said Iranian authorities were handing out potassium iodide tablets to residents within 2 to 3 kilometers of nuclear sites to protect against radiation from possible U.S. strikes, citing an unnamed Iranian Health Ministry official. Kermanpour's denial targets exactly that sourcing and those quotes; his post does not independently prove that no channel distributed any tablets.

Kermanpour also said Iran's medical system is prepared for various emergencies, but that declaring a state of war is not within the Health Ministry's authority.

Iran does have a pre-existing iodine-tablet emergency distribution arrangement: in April 2026, about 180,000 tablets were reported distributed in Bushehr, home to a nuclear power plant, under radiation emergency preparations that predated June 2025. That is separate from the new round of distribution alleged by The Times.

Source: Iranian Ministry of Health

Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)

Photo: 图：伊朗布什尔核电站二期工地（资料图）。图：Hossein Ostovar，CC BY 4.0，经维基共享资源 / Construction at the second phase of Iran's Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant (file photo). Photo by Hossein Ostovar, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons