Does firewalld depend on iptables

YES

If you uninstall iptables package and then install firewalld, you will get the following

================================================================================================================ Package Arch Version Repository Size ================================================================================================================ Installing: firewalld noarch 0.6.3-8.el7_8.1 rhel-7-server-rpms 443 k Installing for dependencies: iptables x86_64 1.4.21-34.el7 rhel-7-server-rpms 432 k Transaction Summary ================================================================================================================ Install 1 Package (+1 Dependent package) Total download size: 875 k Installed size: 3.3 M Downloading packages: (1/2): firewalld-0.6.3-8.el7_8.1.noarch.rpm | 443 kB 00:00:04 (2/2): iptables-1.4.21-34.el7.x86_64.rpm | 432 kB 00:00:04 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total 183 kB/s | 875 kB 00:00:04 Running transaction check Running transaction test Transaction test succeeded Running transaction Installing : iptables-1.4.21-34.el7.x86_64 1/2 Installing : firewalld-0.6.3-8.el7_8.1.noarch 2/2 Verifying : iptables-1.4.21-34.el7.x86_64 1/2 Verifying : firewalld-0.6.3-8.el7_8.1.noarch 2/2 Installed: firewalld.noarch 0:0.6.3-8.el7_8.1 Dependency Installed: iptables.x86_64 0:1.4.21-34.el7 Complete!

From red-hat https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-us/red_hat_enterprise_linux/7/html/security_guide/sec-using_firewalls

both iptables (service) and firewalld (service) use iptables command to interface with the kernel netfilter module