- France blames Iran for recent cyberattacks against supermarket freezers
- October 2026 attack saw food ruined and multiple fires across France
- Iran denies involvement, but France orders its ambassador to Paris to explain
The French government has accused Iran of being behind the recent cyberattacks which hit freezers in supermarkets across Europe.
More than 700 grocery stores were affected by the attack in October 2026, spoiling food and even causing fires as fridges and freezers saw their temperatures hiked up to over 50C.
France has now laid the blame for the attack at the Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), saying the incident was “unprecedented in both its scale and its level of aggression”.
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Iran blamed for attacks
“This is an unprecedented campaign in terms of its scale and level of aggressiveness, thus constituting the first cyber offensive campaign carried out purely for the purpose of sabotage on national territory,” France’s Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Noël Barrot said.
He added that the incident, “marks the first large-scale cyber-attack aimed at sabotage on our national territory, and it constitutes a major attack on the nation’s interests and the security of the French people”.
The attacks affected French supermarket chains Casino, Leclerc, Coopérative U, Metro, Carrefour, and Intermarché groups, with food losses estimated in the tens of millions of euros, a report by France’s Cyber Crisis Coordination Centre (C4) found.
The attacks were followed by a second incident a few days later, with supermarkets in other European countries hit, before a third attack saw French blood plasma reserves targeted.
The latter incident saw Coolworld, which supplies the French Blood Establishment (EFS), targeted. The EFS is responsible for collecting, preparing and distributing blood and blood products in France, many of which are used in essential surgeries and medical operations.
Fortunately, the cyberattack did not result in any serious operational consequences because the temperature spikes were noticed quickly and corrected.
Iranian hacking groups such as the IRGC have been blamed for several high-profile cyberattacks in recent months, many of which have targeted industrial facilities and systems.
This includes a UK power generation plant being taken offline for several days in August 2026, and in the same month, more than 30 Minnesota water utilities were hit in a coordinated attack blamed on Iranian-affiliated actors.
“The Iranian cyber threat against French interests is not new,” the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs added. “Iran has already carried out several destabilizing acts against us, notably targeting the weekly magazine Charlie Hebdo in 2023 and the organization of the Paris Olympic Games in 2024.”
Barrot said the French government had summoned the Iranian ambassador to Paris to “lodge a very strong protest against this extremely grave act”.
Iran has yet to respond officially, but some Iranian media outlets have dismissed the allegations as baseless.
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