Civilians living near potential targets of a US nuclear strike in Iran have been given a radiation drug. Iodine tablets are being distributed to communities within two miles of the country's nuclear facilities, according to an official from Iran's Ministry of Health.
The move comes as US President Donald Trump claims that the war is "effectively over". Last week, however, Mr Trump was reportedly considering the use of nuclear weapons to destroy two locations alleged to be part of the Iranian nuclear weapons program.
Distribution of iodine tablets
An unnamed medical official from Iran's Ministry of Health told the Times of London: "Yes, we are distributing iodine. During every war, we have tried to distribute it within a two-to-three-kilometre radius of nuclear facilities."
Iran has also been broadcasting emergency alerts detailing what to do if the US struck these specific sites with a nuclear bomb. Despite Iran's denial that the fallout pills were being handed out, Iranian state-linked media claimed the anti-radiation pills were being distributed and stockpiled at hospitals in the southern city of Bushehr, home to Iran's only operational nuclear power plant.
Health risks and Trump's comments
Nuclear weapons or an attack on a nuclear site can spew radioactive iodine into the air that people breathe in or swallow. The thyroid gland absorbs this radioactive iodine and raises the risk of thyroid cancer later on. Iodine tablets fill the thyroid with safe, non-radioactive iodine first so the organ absorbs much less of the radioactive fallout.
Just days earlier, a series of urgent meetings were held between Mr Trump and his national security team to decide whether the US will reignite its bombing campaign against Iran. But on Monday, Mr Trump told reporters he believes the war in Iran "militarily is effectively over".
"Iran militarily is effectively over," he said. "We're just keeping it the status quo." He said Iran has been "decapitated". The US leader is, however, still looking to make sure there is a long-term solution to ensuring that Iran's nuclear programme is rendered harmless.
