France is "not ruling anything out" in its response to October's mass cyberattacks on supermarket refrigerators that the country has blamed on Iran, the country's Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said on Tuesday.
The French government summoned Iran's ambassador Tuesday morning after Paris said Monday that the findings of an investigation laid the blame for the hacks on Shahid Kaveh, an affiliate of the cyber unit of the powerful Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Barrot told radio station Franceinfo that the French government could respond with bans on entering European territory and the freezing of assets of anyone held responsible, as it looks to deter any further malicious acts conducted against the region.
Remote hacks on around 700 grocery stores over the night of Oct. 11 to Oct. 12 caused refrigerators and freezers to heat up by as much as 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit).
The soaring temperatures spoiled food and sparked fires, generating tens of millions of dollars in damage. Major French retailers, including Intermarché, E. Leclerc, Carrefour, Monoprix and Coopérative U were targeted.