Hossein Kermanpour, head of the Health Ministry’s Public Relations and Information Center, challenged the sourcing of a report about iodine tablet distribution near Iran’s nuclear facilities, leaving the reported deliveries unconfirmed.
In a Nov. 6 post on X, Kermanpour said The Times had interviewed no ministry official and that the quotation attributed to the ministry was false. He said the health system was preparing for different scenarios. His statement did not address whether residents had received tablets.
The Times reported Nov. 6 that an unnamed ministry official said iodine tablets were being distributed. The newspaper also attributed to the official an account of efforts to supply tablets within a radius of two to three kilometers of nuclear facilities during each war. It did not establish that deliveries took place.
The World Health Organization says potassium iodide can protect the thyroid from radioactive iodine taken into the body. It does not protect against other radioactive substances or external radiation, and the agency advises people to take it only when public health authorities instruct them to do so. The chemical form of the tablets described by The Times has not been established.
