Paris: Iranian hackers have been blamed for causing chaos in European supermarkets by gaining online access to refrigerators and sending their temperatures soaring, destroying food at hundreds of stores.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot named Iran as the country behind the hack and called for European sanctions against Tehran, amid broader concerns about Iranian cyberattacks and terrorism.
The declaration came at a Paris meeting of US, European and other G7 foreign ministers, who are preparing to debate ways to end the war in the Middle East , in their first meeting since American voters turned against US President Donald Trump and his Republican allies in last week’s midterm elections .
French retailers said last month that the attacks on October 11 and 12 changed the controls on refrigerator systems to increase their temperatures to as much as 50 degrees during the night, when the stores were closed.
The attack led to fires in some locations and melted equipment in others, while destroying food at about 700 supermarkets including major chains such as Intermarche, Carrefour and Monoprix.
A separate attack on November 2 raised refrigerator temperatures at dozens of grocery stores in countries including Sweden, Belgium and Luxembourg, while targeting at least one IKEA store.
French blood banks were also hit by the most recent hack at three locations, forcing staff to move the donated blood to avoid losing the supplies.
The French foreign minister said he wanted sanctions applied against Iran given the gravity of the October attacks.
“I can confirm that this attack was carried out by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” he said.
“This attack is unprecedented in both its scale and its level of aggression.
“It is the first large-scale cyberattack aimed at sabotage on French soil, and it represents a major threat to our national interests and the security of the French people. That is why it will not go unanswered.
“We will implement sanctions at the European level against all those responsible for this attack.”
The European Union’s special representative for foreign affairs, Kaja Kallas, said foreign ministers could consider the issue at a meeting next week.
“Our response should be strong,” said Kallas, a former prime minister of Estonia, speaking to reporters at the G7 meeting in Paris.
The focus on Iran follows action in Australia last year to identify and name the Iranian government as the organiser of two attacks on Australia soil , setting fire to the Lewis Continental Kitchen in Sydney on October 20 and the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne on December 6.
Spy agency ASIO believes Iran also directed other attacks on Australia.
The Australian government expelled the Iranian ambassador and three other diplomats, suspended operations at the Australian embassy in Tehran and moved to list the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organisation .
While the European Union already lists the IRGC as a terrorist organisation, many countries there, including France, have maintained diplomatic ties with the regime during the Middle East war.
At least some of the refrigerator units affected on Monday of last week used temperature control systems from Danish firm Danfoss, according to Reuters. The same company’s systems were also targeted in the French attack last month, and the company said it was working with customers on fixing the problems.
The attack on the French blood banks on November 2 changed temperatures at three sites, but did not lead to the loss of any donated blood. French security agencies are not naming Iran as being behind these incidents.
“Even if the modus operandi is similar, nothing at this stage allows us to confirm that it is the same attacker,” said Vincent Strubel, the director general of the National Cybersecurity Agency of France.
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