Paris is weighing its next steps after an attack on supermarket refrigeration sites, Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said Tuesday, with the aim of deterring further attacks.
Speaking to Franceinfo, Barrot said Paris could take steps beyond diplomacy and European Union sanctions to deter further attacks. He said the attack was suspected of involving a cyber unit of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), adding, “We rule nothing out.”
Le Figaro reported Monday that French intelligence linked an early-October attack on supermarket refrigeration facilities to an IRGC cyber unit.
The Paris prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation covering the leader of the Iranian Shahid Kaveh group, two deputies and other people it has not identified. The office has requested international arrest warrants. Shahid Kaveh is an Iranian cyber-offensive group affiliated with the IRGC’s Electronic and Cyber Center.
Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported that a separate suspected attack on freezer systems affected grocery stores in at least nine other European countries on Nov. 2. AFP also reported that EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas called for a strong response after France’s attribution. Barrot’s remarks follow France’s earlier attribution of the cyberattack.
