France’s foreign minister, Jean-Noel Barrot, said on Tuesday that Paris would rule out nothing in responding to a major cyberattack on hundreds of supermarket fridges in October, which France has blamed on Iran. In a television interview, he said Iran’s ambassador would be summoned and that European-level sanctions would be sought.
Barrot said on Monday that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was behind the attacks, which he described as the first large-scale cyber sabotage of its kind on French territory. Speaking on the sidelines of a G7 foreign ministers’ meeting in Paris, he called the attack “unprecedented in both its scale and its level of aggression.”
Hundreds of French supermarkets hit by freezer sabotage
Hundreds of French supermarkets were hit on October 11 and 12, with refrigerator temperatures raised. Many stores were forced to throw away entire stocks of perishable food. Similar incidents have since been reported in other European countries, including at least nine that were hit on November 2 by a suspected cyberattack on freezer systems.
Paris prosecutor targets IRGC cyber unit
Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said on Monday that she had opened an investigation into Shahid Kaveh, which she described as a shadowy cyber unit of the IRGC, the Islamic republic’s ideological army, over the attacks. The prosecutor’s office has requested that international arrest warrants be issued for two Shahid Kaveh officials.
Barrot pledges deterrent measures against future attacks
Barrot said the aim is to deter anyone who might be tempted, in Iran or elsewhere, to carry out such an attack again. He said France would take all measures it considers proportionate and necessary, including some it may not disclose publicly.
