France summoned Iran’s ambassador to Paris on Tuesday, 10 November 2026, to lodge a strong protest after accusing Tehran of a major cyberattack on supermarket refrigeration systems last month.
Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot described it as “the first large-scale cyberattack aimed at sabotage on our national territory” and “a major attack on the nation’s interests and the security of the French people.”
On Monday, Barrot said Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was behind the attacks on 11-12 October, when hackers remotely accessed fridges in more than 700 French supermarkets and started “abnormal, indefinite defrost cycles”.
The raised temperatures forced shops to throw away perishable food. Retailers said millions of euros’ worth of food was spoiled, and in some cases the heat sparked fires or melted equipment. The chains affected included E-Leclerc, Intermarché, Carrefour, Monoprix and Coopérative U.
Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau has opened an investigation into Shahid Kaveh, a cyber unit of the IRGC, and her office has requested international arrest warrants for two of its officials.
Barrot said France would push for EU sanctions and that Paris “rules nothing out” in responding, including measures it may not disclose publicly.
Iran denied the accusations on Tuesday, calling them “baseless”.
Similar suspected attacks were reported on 2 November in Belgium, Estonia, Ireland, Luxembourg and Sweden.
Source: Al Jazeera
