Iran Health Ministry Disputes Iodine-Tablet Report

Iran’s Health Ministry’s public relations director, Hossein Kermanpour, rejected an interview and quotation attributed to his ministry in a report about iodine tablets being distributed near nuclear facilities. His response, reported late on November 6, disputed the official attribution behind the account of Iranian preparations for a possible attack. The earlier account attributed confirmation of the distribution to an unnamed ministry official. That person was quoted as saying, “Yes, we are distributing iodine.” The account also attributed to the official a description of wartime efforts to supply the tablets within 2–3 kilometers of nuclear sites. It did not establish when the reported deliveries began. Kermanpour said no Health Ministry official had given the interview and that the quotation attributed to the ministry was false. He said the health system prepared for different scenarios and possible threats, while declaring a wartime situation lay outside the ministry’s authority. He also criticized the circulation of unverified reporting in the circumstances. The earlier report discussed a circulating video about surviving a hypothetical nuclear explosion at Pickaxe Mountain near Natanz. It also cited an unnamed Iranian political journalist who described a recent briefing where officials considered that possibility. Those accounts concerned preparations and fears of a hypothetical attack; the ministry representative’s response challenged the provenance of the iodine-distribution quotation.