Paris (France) (AFP) - France on Monday accused the Iranian Revolutionary Guard of being behind the "unprecedented" cyber attacks that targeted refrigerators in French consumer stores in October, threatening Tehran with European sanctions in response.

Published on: 09/11/2026 - 20:55

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said Monday in statements on the sidelines of a meeting of G7 foreign ministers, “I confirm that this attack was carried out by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard,” considering it “unprecedented in terms of its size and level of aggression.”

He added, "On Monday, we summoned the Iranian ambassador to France to express our strong protest against this extremely dangerous act, which is the least that should be done. We will impose sanctions at the European level against all those responsible for this attack."

For his part, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was in Paris to participate in the meeting, said, "The Revolutionary Guard has been carrying out terrorist and sabotage acts around the world for a long time."

While he described the Revolutionary Guard as “a dysfunctional group of revolutionaries,” he wondered, “What drives these sick people to attack refrigerators? France is not actually involved” in the war between the United States and Iran.

These statements come at a time when the French Public Prosecution opened an investigation on Monday into an Iranian electronic group linked to the Revolutionary Guard, against the backdrop of the attacks.

Paris Public Prosecutor Laure Picot said in a statement, “A judicial investigation has been opened against the head of the Iranian Shahid Kawa Group, a cyber warfare offensive unit affiliated with the Electronics and Cybersecurity Center of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, and against his two deputies, as well as against any other persons whose identities may be revealed later.”

Biko added that investigators "uncovered, with the support of specialized state agencies, the method of work that distinguishes this unit, as well as the use of the Persian language (...) and devices located in Iran."

The Public Prosecution requested the issuance of international arrest warrants against the parties concerned.

"sabotage"

Beko said that the attacks that occurred on the night of October 11-12 targeted “refrigeration control devices belonging to the companies Danfoss and Dexcel in major stores, and affected about 700 supermarkets in France,” stressing that these attacks “caused significant losses in food supplies and about twenty fires.”

Beko said that the attackers intended to launch electronic attacks to melt ice in refrigerators and disable sensors that are supposed to issue an alarm when the temperature exceeds certain degrees.

She explained that the investigation was opened on charges of "launching fraudulent attacks against an automated system within the framework of an organized gang, and sabotage using a means that poses a danger to people within an organized gang, (...) with the aim of serving an external party, that is, in this case Iran, in addition to the charge of participating in forming a gang with the aim of planning a crime."

A statement by the Cyber ​​Crisis Coordination Center (C4), which includes various state agencies, including the National Agency for Information Systems Security (ANSSI) and Foreign Intelligence (DGSE), referred to “a group of evidence indicating that the Revolutionary Guard of the Islamic Republic is the commanding party, and that the Shahid Kawa Unit is the implementing party.”

The center said, “It is known that the techniques used during these operations have been used by the Shahid Kawa Unit since at least April 2026,” and explained that there are “evidence of the use of the Persian language found in the attack infrastructure.”

He noted that the operation "received coverage on the propaganda platform CyberbanNews linked to the Shahid Kawa unit, as of October 13, 2026."

The French Foreign Minister described the matter as "the first large-scale cyberattack for sabotage purposes on the nation's territory," and considered it "a serious violation of the nation's interests and the security of French men and women."

In early November, food stores in at least nine European countries recorded a sharp rise in temperatures inside their refrigerators, forcing them to throw out food worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

The media pointed the finger of blame at the Russian “No Name 057 (16)” and “Z-Pentest” groups, which carried out operations in Europe in recent years.

Pirates

But the Kremlin denied on Thursday that Russia was behind these attacks.

On Monday, France informed European Union foreign policy chief Kaya Kallas and the foreign ministers of the G7 countries that the cyber attack that targeted refrigerators in France was attributed to Iran.

Callas said that the Foreign Affairs Council will discuss this issue during next Monday’s meeting, stressing that the cyber attacks taking place in Europe must “meet with a strong response from our side,” if the party responsible for them is determined.

Iran, which has been involved in a conflict with the United States since the US-Israeli attacks on February 28, is often accused of resorting to unconventional methods to achieve its goals.

Iranian hacking groups linked to the Revolutionary Guard are often accused of launching cyber attacks.

© 2026 AFP

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