France blames Iran for sabotage attacks on supermarket refrigerators

AKIPRESS.COM – The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced that “Shahid Kaveh,” a hacking unit linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), is responsible for cyberattacks on supermarket refrigerators that affected retail networks across France.

The attacks impacted over 700 retail locations nationwide and caused tens of millions of euros in damage, marking the first-ever cyber campaign in the country undertaken exclusively for sabotage.

French law enforcement has launched an investigation into the leaders of Shahid Kaveh, and Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot has pledged European Union-level sanctions against all those involved.

The hackers breached refrigeration systems in French supermarkets on the night of October 12, switching the equipment to defrost mode and raising temperatures to 50°C, which spoiled food products and sparked fires in several stores.

In early November, retail networks in other EU countries, notably Belgium, Sweden, and Estonia, experienced similar cyberattacks, though authorities in those nations have not yet issued formal accusations.

The IRGC is Iran’s most influential security structure, a role that expanded further following the outbreak of war between Iran, the United States, and Israel in early 2026.