PARIS — French authorities have formally attributed a series of disruptive cyber assaults targeting supermarket cooling systems to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), marking a sharp escalation in state-sponsored digital sabotage. 

Speaking to the press on Monday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot confirmed that intelligence agencies traced the October intrusions directly to Tehran's military apparatus. Characterizing the incident as an unprecedented assault on national infrastructure, Barrot emphasized that the operation crossed a critical threshold in modern cyber warfare.

The initial wave of digital breaches struck approximately 700 retail food outlets across France on October 11 and 12, manipulating refrigeration and freezing units to dangerously high temperatures. The resulting thermal spikes caused widespread food spoilage and triggered at least 15 localized electrical fires. Vulnerabilities resurfaced earlier this month when a secondary campaign targeted more than 100 additional European facilities, including critical cold-storage units operated by French blood donation centers. 

Investigators from French security and cyber defense divisions have identified the perpetrator as "Shahid Kaveh," an elite cyber unit embedded within the IRGC command structure. Paris prosecutors have formally initiated legal proceedings and secured international arrest warrants for three high-ranking operatives linked to the cell: Hamid Reza Lashgarian, Mehdi Lashgarian, and Reza Salarvand. 

In response to the breaches, the French government summoned the Iranian ambassador to lodge a formal diplomatic protest. European Union foreign policy leadership echoed Paris's concerns, signaling that Brussels is preparing unified retaliatory measures. Meanwhile, Iranian diplomatic missions at the United Nations have declined to issue official statements regarding the allegations. 

Cybersecurity analysts note that the strikes on commercial refrigeration mirror a broader pattern of asymmetrical retaliation linked to ongoing geopolitical frictions. Similar digital disruptions have previously targeted industrial facilities in the Middle East and overseas military installations, highlighting a growing vulnerability in industrial control systems connected to the public internet. Security experts warn that as state actors increasingly leverage digital tools to project power, civilian infrastructure remains on the frontline of modern diplomatic disputes.

[ⓒ Global Economic Times. 무단전재-재배포 금지]