France blames Iran’s Revolutionary Guards for cyber-attacks on supermarket fridges

French foreign minister vows European sanctions against Tehran over ‘unprecedented’ hacks last month

France has said Iran’s Revolutionary Guards were behind “unprecedented” cyber-attacks on supermarket fridges in the country last month, vowing European sanctions against Tehran.

“I can confirm that this attack was carried out by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” the French foreign minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, said on Monday of the hacks on 11 and 12 October.

“This attack is unprecedented in both its scale and its level of aggression,” he said, adding, “We will implement sanctions at the European level against all those responsible for this attack.”

Iran’s mission to the United Nations did not return messages seeking comment. Iran routinely denies carrying out malicious cyber operations.

The October hacks were followed this month by a second wave of hacking ‌that hit more than 100 establishments across Europe and even affected refrigerators used by French blood banks, prompting employees to move some of the blood to other cold storage units.

The seemingly straightforward nature of the refrigerator hacks – and their repetition ​across multiple countries – prompted speculation about who might be responsible amid ongoing concerns over Russia’s suspected sabotage campaign in Europe, the war between the US and Iran and the global rise of AI-powered cyberattacks.

Agence France-Presse and Reuters contributed to this report.