Why iodination of alkanes is carried out in the presence of oxidizing agents?

Explanation

Iodination is a slow and reversible process. Hence, the HI formed in the reaction again decomposes to produce alkane. The oxidizing agents prevent the formation of alkane back by decomposing HI into iodine.
`CH_(4) + I_(2) hArr CH_(3)I + HI`
`underset(underset("(oxidizing agent)")"Iodic acid ")(HIO_(3)) + 5HI rarr 3I_(2) + 3H_(2)O`