PARIS, France- France has accused a cyber unit linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of carrying out a large-scale attack on supermarket refrigeration systems, which caused food losses, material damage and fires at hundreds of sites.
French authorities said the attack, carried out overnight between October 11 and 12, targeted refrigeration controllers at more than 700 food-retail locations across the country.
Paris described it as the first cyber-offensive campaign conducted purely for sabotage on French soil.
The French Foreign Ministry attributed the operation to Shahid Kaveh, a cyber-offensive unit affiliated with the Electronic and Cyber Centre of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps.
France said it would summon Iran’s ambassador in Paris, seek fresh European Union sanctions against Iranian entities and individuals linked to the alleged attack, and reserve the right to take additional public or non-public measures.
Fridges and freezers forced to high temperatures
France’s cybersecurity agency, ANSSI, said attackers compromised industrial refrigeration controls and altered defrost settings, pushing equipment to high temperatures.
The changes caused major losses of perishable goods and triggered at least 15 fires, according to the agency. The Foreign Ministry estimated the food losses at several tens of millions of euros.
The operation affected supermarkets, but authorities said the impact extended beyond major retailers.
ANSSI said the same campaign also struck smaller food-sector businesses, including butcheries, a slaughterhouse and cooperative food-processing plants.
It also identified the simultaneous targeting of Schneider Electric equipment used by small hydroelectric installations, though the effects on those systems were described as limited.
The wider list of targets raises concern over the exposure of internet-connected industrial systems, particularly those used to preserve food, manage energy infrastructure and keep essential services operating.
France cites technical evidence
The Cyber Crisis Coordination Centre, which brings together France’s cybersecurity agency, intelligence services, defence bodies and military cyber command, said it had linked the campaign to Shahid Kaveh through technical indicators.
These included infrastructure characteristics, the use of digital signing tools, the promotion of the attack by a propaganda outlet associated with the group and traces of Persian-language use within the attack infrastructure, ANSSI said.
French officials said the incident was not an isolated case.
The country’s CERT-FR agency said it had identified other alleged cyber operations against French interests by Shahid Kaveh and Shahid Shoostari, another unit connected to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s electronic and cyber centre.
France said previous activity linked to Iranian actors had included attacks against Charlie Hebdo in 2023 and an attempted operation against a French company managing video-display systems during the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Diplomatic pressure mounts
Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said the alleged refrigeration attack marked a major threat to French national interests and public security.
France argues that the campaign violated international law and the United Nations framework on responsible state behaviour in cyberspace, which Tehran has endorsed.
The government’s decision to pursue EU sanctions signals that Paris is treating the incident not as a conventional cybercrime case, but as an alleged state-linked act of sabotage against critical commercial and industrial infrastructure.
The Iranian government had not publicly responded to France’s latest attribution at the time of publication.
