Marco Rubio Condemns Iran’s IRGC After France Blames It for Supermarket Cyberattack

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of a long record of sabotage after France blamed it for a cyberattack that disrupted supermarket refrigeration across the country. Rubio told reporters that France had been targeted despite having no direct role in the current conflict with Iran.

“The IRGC has been conducting acts of terrorism and sabotage around the world for a long time,” Rubio said. He cited that record in explaining why the United States sanctions the group and designates it a terrorist organisation. The attack on French retailers, he said, did not surprise him.

Rubio Directs His Criticism at Iran’s Leadership

“You are dealing with a deranged group of revolutionaries,” Rubio said. He praised the Iranian people and recalled his Senate confirmation hearing, where he said he had spoken about Iran and distinguished its citizens from the officials who govern them.

Rubio traced what he described as the leadership’s record of violence abroad to 1979. He said France’s experience showed that countries outside the current fighting could still be targeted. Tehran had yet to issue an official response to France’s allegations at the time of the report.

France Seeks EU Sanctions Over Supermarket Attack

The October attack targeted about 700 retail locations, including sites operated by Intermarché, Coopérative U and E. Leclerc, CNN reported on Monday. The attackers deliberately caused commercial refrigeration equipment to defrost, spoiling food and setting off equipment fires, according to the report.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot called the attack an act of “unprecedented scale and unprecedented aggressiveness” and described it as the first large-scale act of cyber sabotage on French soil. He said it threatened France’s national interests and public safety. Paris summoned Iran’s ambassador and is working with European partners to pursue sanctions.

Paris Inquiry Focuses on an IRGC-Linked Cyber Unit

The Paris prosecutor’s office opened an inquiry after investigators found digital traces they said pointed to Iran. CNN reported that the evidence included the use of Farsi and IP addresses pointing to devices in the country. French judicial authorities are focusing on Shahid Kaveh, a cyber unit linked to the IRGC. Their inquiry covers the unit’s chief, two deputies and other operatives.

Food retailers in Ireland, Belgium and Sweden suffered similar disruptions earlier in November. Investigators have yet to establish whether those incidents were linked to the French attack, CNN reported.

US intelligence agencies had previously circulated confidential warnings after joint US and Israeli strikes on Iran earlier in the year, according to CNN. The alerts urged government departments and private companies to strengthen their defences against possible retaliatory cyberattacks from Iran.

With inputs from ANI