French foreign minister attributes supermarket fridge sabotage to IRGC cyber unit
France says an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps hacking cell, known as Shahid Kaveh, carried out a coordinated cyber attack that raised refrigerator temperatures in supermarkets across Europe.
France’s foreign minister announced that a hacking unit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was behind a cyber operation that caused supermarket refrigerators to overheat, spoiling food worth millions of euros in France and other European countries. The minister described the attack as “unprecedented in both its scale and its level of aggression.”
The unit, identified as Shahid Kaveh, is said to operate within the IRGC and is linked to a $10 million bounty offered by the United States. French prosecutors have requested international arrest warrants for the unit’s leader and two deputies, citing the use of Persian-language tools and Iranian IP addresses as evidence of the group’s involvement.
According to the minister, Shahid Kaveh’s most active cell, Intelligence Group 13, combines cyber espionage, industrial sabotage and psychological warfare, targeting critical infrastructure such as water systems, power grids and fuel-distribution networks. The group’s supervisory chief is identified as Gen. Hamidreza Lashgarian, a senior IRGC cyber official, while field commander Reza Salarvand and liaison Mohammad Bagher Shirinkar are also named.
Analysts note that the fridge attacks represent a shift from traditional targets like power grids to consumer-grade equipment with weaker defenses, exploiting outdated firmware to achieve rapid, visible disruption. A propaganda network called CyberAveng3rs is reported to have amplified the intrusion, posting defacement images and anti-Zionist messages.
The French prosecutor’s office said the operation bears the unit’s signature and that the arrest warrants are being pursued by Western authorities.