France accuses Iran of supermarket fridge hacking

France has accused Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of being behind cyber-attacks that raised the temperatures of supermarket fridges and freezers.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said the attack was "unprecedented in both its scale and its level of aggression", adding those who were responsible would be hit with sanctions "at the European level".

Iran is yet to respond to Barrot's allegations.

The cyber-attack last month saw fridges and freezers in hundreds of supermarkets across France heated up, which spoilt fresh and frozen food estimated to be worth millions of euros.

Then last week, dozens of supermarkets across several other European countries were also impacted by a cyber-attack that targeted fridges and freezers. It is not known if the instances are linked.

Barrot said the attack on France's supermarkets "marks the first large-scale cyberattack aimed at sabotage on our national territory, and it constitutes a major attack on the nation's interests and the security of the French people".

He said the government had summoned the Iranian ambassador to Paris to "lodge a very strong protest against this extremely grave act".

France will take "any other necessary and proportionate measures" to respond to the incident and "deter anyone who might seek to repeat it", Barrot added.