France threatens Iran with sanctions and non-public measures over cyberattack

France will impose sanctions against Iran and may adopt a number of non-public measures in response to a cyberattack that Paris believes involved the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

This was stated by French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot.

"We rule nothing out and will take all measures, including those we will not announce publicly <...>, which we ourselves deem proportionate and necessary in order to prevent any new attacks and punish those responsible for this unacceptable aggression," Barrot said.

He added that the French Foreign Ministry intends to summon Iran's ambassador to lodge a protest with him. In addition, Paris will seek the introduction of European sanctions against all individuals involved in the attack. The restrictions could include a ban on entry into European countries, as well as the freezing of accounts and financial assets.

On the night of October 11-12, several hundred supermarkets across France were targeted by a hacker attack that disrupted the operation of refrigeration units. This led to the spoilage of the products stored in them. Individual stores reported losses of hundreds of thousands of euros, while the total damage nationwide could run into millions of euros. On November 2, similar incidents occurred in more than ten other EU countries.

As the newspaper Le Figaro reported earlier, French intelligence links the series of cyberattacks carried out on the night of October 11-12 to the IRGC's digital unit.

Source: TASS