DUBAI, October 28. /TASS/. The Iranian government has banned the import and use of cell phones manufactured by American company Motorola following September's deadly explosions of the devices in Lebanon, Iranian news website Digiato reported.

According to the website, Iranian Deputy Minister of Industry, Mine and Trade Mohammad Mehdi Baradaran announced shortly before he left his post that Motorola phones would no longer be sold in the country. Many online retailers have already removed the devices from their product listings or changed their status to "out of stock," the website notes. Due to the import ban, Motorola brand phones can no longer be registered inside the country.

On September 17 and 18, numerous explosions of communication devices took place in Lebanon. On the first day, a large number of pagers detonated almost simultaneously in different parts of the country. Lebanon’s Ministry of Health reported that 12 people, including 2 children, were killed in the incident. More than 2,000 victims had to be hospitalized. On the following day, radios, phones, as well as devices operating on solar panels and lithium-ion batteries exploded in several areas of Lebanon. The second incident killed 25 people and injured 608.