France Accuses Iran’s IRGC of Hacking Supermarket Refrigeration

What changed

France has accused Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of hacking supermarket refrigeration systems, raising temperatures and spoiling fresh and frozen food worth millions of euros.

The 11 October attack affected more than 100 Coopérative U supermarkets and 180 Intermarché and Netto stores. Some fridges reportedly reached 50C overnight. Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot announced planned European sanctions, while prosecutors opened an investigation into the IRGC-linked Shahid Kaveh cyber unit and its leaders.

Why it matters

This was a cyber-attack with a very physical bill. A compromised temperature-control system turned ordinary refrigeration equipment into a source of waste across hundreds of stores, putting food inventory and supermarket operations under pressure at once.

France’s response also raises the stakes beyond the damaged appliances. By naming the IRGC and preparing sanctions at European level, Paris is treating the incident as a state-linked attack on commercial infrastructure, not simply a technical failure.

That attribution remains an allegation, and Iran has not responded. Meanwhile, dozens of supermarkets in seven other European countries were hit last week. Whether those incidents are connected is still unknown, but any confirmed link would widen the dispute from a French investigation into a broader European security problem.