France accuses Iran of supermarket fridge hacking

What the report says

France has accused Iran of carrying out a cyber-attack that disrupted refrigeration systems in supermarkets across the country, in an episode the French foreign minister described as unusually aggressive in scale. According to BBC World News, Jean-Noël Barrot said the attack was linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and that France would seek European-level sanctions against those deemed responsible.

The incident reportedly happened last month and caused fridges and freezers in hundreds of French supermarkets to heat up, spoiling fresh and frozen food worth millions of euros. BBC World News said more than 100 Coopérative U stores were affected, along with 180 outlets from Intermarché and its Netto chain. In some locations, the temperature inside the units allegedly rose to 50C overnight.

The report also noted a separate cyber-attack the following week that affected refrigeration equipment in dozens of supermarkets across seven other European countries. It was not clear whether the two incidents were connected. Iran had not publicly responded to the allegations at the time of the report.

BBC World News further reported that Paris prosecutors opened an investigation into the head and two deputies of an offensive cyber unit linked to the IRGC, identified as Shahid Kaveh. The case adds to wider concerns in Europe about cyber threats directed at commercial infrastructure and critical digital systems.