France Blames Iran's Revolutionary Guards for Cyberattacks That Shut Supermarkets Across Europe

France's Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot says Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) was behind recent cyberattacks that remotely turned up the temperatures of supermarket fridges. The attacks forced stock to be pulled from shelves and caused many supermarkets in several European countries to close. Mr Barrot described the attack as "unprecedented in both its scale and its level of aggression" and said France would press for Europe-wide sanctions. France has also summoned Iran's ambassador.

The French attacks took place on October 11 and 12 and affected hundreds of supermarkets. Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau announced a judicial investigation into the head of Shahid Kaveh, an offensive cyber unit affiliated with the IRGC's Electronic and Cyber Center, along with his two deputies and any other individuals who may be identified.

It remains unclear whether a second wave of fridge attacks last week is connected. That wave came in the same week as bomb hoaxes affecting dozens of European flights, and no country has been blamed for those. Suspicion for both the fridge campaign and the hoaxes had fallen on either Iran or Russia, with Russia also alleged to be waging a so-called "hybrid war" across Europe against allies of Ukraine.