iptables rules saved in /etc/sysconfig/iptables are not applied at system boot in openshift

Issue

• the iptables rules saved by iptables-save command in /etc/sysconfig/iptables are not re-applied after a node reboot. What is the right way to make a rule like:
  iptables --insert INPUT -p udp -m state --state NEW -m udp --dport 161 -j ACCEPTpermanent on a OCP node