Madar (International) - France on Monday, November 9, 2026, accused a cyber unit affiliated with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of being behind attacks on supermarket refrigeration systems on October 11 and 12, and opened an investigation, Al Jazeera English reported, citing AFP and AP.
Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said Iran's ambassador had been summoned and that sanctions would be sought "at a European level". "I can confirm that this attack was carried out by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of the Islamic Republic of Iran," he said, calling it "unprecedented in its level of aggression" and "the first large-scale cyberattack carried out for sabotage purposes on French soil" that "will not go unanswered".
The Paris prosecutor's office said it had requested international arrest warrants against the leader of Shahid Kaveh, an offensive cyber unit affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards, and his two deputies, who were not named.
According to investigators, the attackers used Farsi and IP addresses linked to devices located in Iran, gained internet access to the refrigeration systems and remotely raised temperatures to 50 degrees Celsius overnight. Retailers said millions of euros worth of food was spoiled, and in some cases the heat sparked fires or melted equipment.
E.Leclerc, Intermarche, Carrefour, Monoprix and Cooperative U were hit: more than 300 Intermarche and Netto stores, over 100 Cooperative U supermarkets, 80 Carrefour stores and about 5 percent of Monoprix's roughly 490 shops. Similar overnight temperature spikes were reported on November 2 at stores in Belgium, Estonia, Ireland, Luxembourg and Sweden, according to the same source.
