Iran’s Intelligence Ministry accused two French diplomats previously detained in Tehran of involvement in covert contacts with Iranians and said documents seized in the case pointed to a broader French effort to build a network inside and outside the country.

Axar.az informs, citing Iran International, that the ministry said security forces encountered the diplomats at what it described as a secret meeting while carrying out judicial orders to arrest two people in a security case. After their identities were established, the diplomats were transferred to French representatives through Iran’s diplomatic police, it said.

According to the statement, documents found at the location indicated efforts to identify individuals, establish secret contacts with them and develop a network. The ministry added some documents connected to the project bore the signature of a former French ambassador to Iran, and called on Paris to explain its actions.

“The French government must be held accountable for its illegal and interventionist actions,” the ministry said.

It also warned France against any repetition, saying Iran would not permit “illegal and interventionist conduct” by foreign diplomats and would take what it called an appropriate response against those responsible.

The statement provides Tehran’s most detailed account yet of the July incident, which triggered a diplomatic dispute between the two countries.

France said the two diplomats were detained for nearly four hours, prevented from contacting their embassy and that one was physically assaulted. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot called the incident an “extremely serious and premeditated assault” and a violation of diplomatic immunity. The diplomats later returned to France.

Iran denied that they were beaten.

France has said the diplomats worked on programs supporting Iranian civil society, including artists and scientists.