Tehran, May 24 (IANS): The Iranian Intelligence Ministry has said its forces have smashed a network in the country that was cooperating with a foreign intelligence service, arresting all its members.

The Ministry said on Tuesday in a statement that the network was part of a "big project" of the hostile foreign service to gain access to the information of Iranian citizens travelling abroad, Xinhua news agency reported.

It added further monitoring of the moves and activities of the hostile foreign intelligence service made it clear that it was "specifically and heavily" focused on Iranian officials and individuals with access to important data at the country's sensitive institutions as well as those specialised in different areas and would monitor them in a "concentrated" manner.

The network involved personnel in Iranian state organisations and apparatuses who worked for the foreign service's links or as executive agents, said the statement.

These personnel, after receiving information about targetted individuals from ringleaders, would make "illegal and unauthorised" access to data bases and provide wanted information to the links and ringleaders.

The statement gave the assurance that all members of the network, including the ringleaders, links and system operators, have been arrested at the order of the Iranian judicial authorities.