When 'iptables' service is stopped, is there a way to prevent the modules from getting loaded when "iptables -L" command is run ?

Issue

• When iptables service is stopped all the iptables related modules will be unloaded but after that when iptables -L command is run, ip_tables module is loaded and because of which it shows below output.

[root@test ~]# iptables -L
Chain INPUT (policy ACCEPT)
target     prot opt source               destination         

Chain FORWARD (policy ACCEPT)
target     prot opt source               destination         

Chain OUTPUT (policy ACCEPT)
target     prot opt source               destination         
[root@test ~]# 

• As per above output, actual iptables/firewall rules are not activated/loaded, but is there a way to prevent ip_tables module from getting loaded when iptables -L command is run ?

• why does iptables service starts up when iptables -L is executed ?