Kremlin, asked on Iran's use of Russian comms devices after pager attacks, says trade is growing

FILE PHOTO: A person is carried outside American University of Beirut Medical Center, including Hezbollah fighters and medics, were wounded and killed when the pagers they use to communicate exploded across Lebanon, according to a security source, in Beiru

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Kremlin, commenting on a Reuters report that Iran's Revolutionary Guards were mostly using homemade or Russian- or Chinese-made communications devices, said on Monday that Moscow's trade links with Tehran were developing.

An Iranian security official told Reuters that Iran was concerned about infiltration by Israeli agents following deadly pager attacks on Lebanon's Hezbollah this month. A large-scale operation to inspect all communication devices used by the Revolutionary Guards was underway, the official added.

"I do not know how reliable these sources are," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters when asked about the Reuters report.

"The only thing I can say is that our trade and economic relations with Iran are developing. They are developing in all areas, and in trade too. The volume of trade is growing mutually."

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin is due in Tehran on Monday for talks with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and First Vice-President Mohammad Reza Aref, according to the Russian government.

(Reporting by Dmitry Antonov; Writing by Lucy Papachristou and Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Andrew Osborn)