Iran rejects French allegations over supermarket fridge cyberattacks

Iran has rejected accusations by the French government that it was responsible for cyberattacks on supermarket fridges last month, Euronews and France 24 reported. The foreign ministry of Iran released a statement on Tuesday calling the French claims baseless and one-sided, while strongly condemning what it called a policy of levelling accusations against the country. [1][8]

The Iranian statement followed remarks made on Monday by French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, Euronews reported. According to Euronews, Barrot stated that Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was behind a series of attacks targeting French supermarket fridges on the night of 11-12 October. [1]

Iran stated that the French government is instead to blame for the cyber incidents that affected hundreds of fridges in October, Euronews and Middle East Eye reported. In response to the allegations, France summoned the Iranian envoy and is considering sanctions, Ticker News and CNBC reported. [1][3][6][8][11]

As FTMQ News reported earlier, initial cyberattacks on 11 and 12 October affected around 700 French stores by remotely raising freezer temperatures to over 50 degrees Celsius for four to six hours. French authorities previously attributed the attack to Shahid Kaveh, a cyberunit affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. France is a nation in Western Europe with a population of 68.6 million as of January 2025. [9][14][15][16]