The French government announced it is pursuing stringent sanctions to deter further cyberattacks across Europe.
Published On 10 Nov 2026
France has summoned Iran’s ambassador to Paris to lodge a formal protest, accusing Tehran of orchestrating a major cyberattack last month that targeted supermarket refrigeration systems.
“This marks the first large-scale cyberattack aimed at sabotage on our national territory, and it constitutes a grave threat to the nation’s interests and the security of the French people,” Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot stated on Tuesday.
“We rule nothing out and will take all measures—including those we may not disclose publicly—that we deem proportionate and necessary to deter any further attacks,” he added.
Speaking on France Info television, Barrot said the government would press for European Union sanctions in response to what he described as an “attack of unprecedented scale and aggression on our soil.”
He emphasized that firm measures would be taken “to deter anyone who might be tempted, in Iran or elsewhere, to repeat such actions.”
On Monday, Barrot attributed the cyberattacks to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which targeted more than 700 French supermarkets on October 11 and 12. The attackers remotely accessed refrigeration systems to initiate “abnormal, indefinite defrost cycles.”
The resulting temperature spikes forced supermarkets to discard all perishable goods.
Retailers estimate millions of euros worth of food was spoiled. In some instances, the temperature surges sparked fires or melted equipment.
Major French supermarket chains—including E.Leclerc, Intermarché, Carrefour, Monoprix, and Coopérative U—were all affected.
Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau announced on Monday the opening of an investigation into Shahid Kaveh, a cyber unit of the IRGC, over the attacks.
The prosecutor’s office has requested international arrest warrants for two Shahid Kaveh officials.
Similar incidents have since been reported in other European countries.
On November 2, a suspected cyberattack triggered temperature spikes in stores across Belgium, Estonia, Ireland, Luxembourg, and Sweden.
Jody Westby, chief executive of Global Cyber Risk LLC, noted that identifying the group directly responsible for the attacks is “very difficult” due to poor cooperation on international cybercrime investigations.
“It’s been a problem for 20-odd years, and now it’s a little better, but only marginally so,” Westby told Al Jazeera. She explained that tracing the origin of such attacks remains difficult “because of the nature of packet switching.”
In recent days, European air traffic has also been disrupted by false bomb alerts targeting dozens of flights, though the source of those threats remains undetermined.
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