France Accuses Iran’s Revolutionary Guard of Hacking Refrigerators in 700 Supermarkets, Spoiling Millions of Euros Worth of Food

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France has accused Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of orchestrating a major cyberattack that remotely disrupted refrigeration systems in hundreds of supermarkets, forcing businesses to throw away large quantities of fresh and frozen food. The French government announced the accusation on Monday, November 9, summoned Iran’s ambassador and said it would seek European sanctions against those responsible.

The attack took place on October 12 and affected approximately 700 of France’s 10,000 supermarkets. Hackers reportedly gained remote access to refrigeration controls, causing temperatures to rise to as high as 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit) for around six hours. The disruption left food unsafe for consumption, forcing affected stores to dispose of spoiled stock. Intermarché, one of France’s major supermarket chains, estimated that its losses amounted to tens of millions of euros in a single day.

French prosecutors said their investigation had identified the Shahid Kaveh group, which the country’s national cybersecurity agency describes as a cyber unit affiliated with the IRGC’s Electronic and Cyber Centre. Investigators reportedly traced digital activity linked to the operation through the use of the Farsi language and internet addresses associated with devices in Iran. Prosecutors have opened a formal investigation into suspected organised cybercrime carried out in the interests of a foreign power and are seeking international arrest warrants for the group’s leader and two deputies.

Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot described the incident as an unprecedented act of cyber sabotage on French soil and warned that it posed a serious threat to national interests and public security. He said France would pursue sanctions at the European level and consider other measures to prevent similar attacks. The government has not announced specific sanctions yet, but its response signals a significant escalation in diplomatic tensions between Paris and Tehran.

The incident has also raised concerns about the vulnerability of essential services and everyday commercial infrastructure to cyberattacks. France recently investigated a separate attempt to manipulate temperatures at several blood banks, although the operation was stopped before blood products or samples were damaged. Similar refrigeration and freezer disruptions have also been reported in supermarkets across several European countries, including Sweden, Belgium, Luxembourg, Ireland and Estonia.

Cybersecurity experts have warned that ordinary industrial equipment can become an entry point for attackers when systems are connected to the internet without adequate protection. An earlier investigation into the supermarket incident highlighted weaknesses involving online-accessible refrigeration controls and inadequate passwords. The episode has therefore become more than a dispute between two governments, exposing how digital attacks can disrupt food supplies, damage businesses and threaten public safety without targeting traditional computer networks alone.