France just accused Iran of sabotaging its supermarkets and wants arrest warrants

France just named Iran as the country behind a cyberattack on its supermarkets.

And now prosecutors want arrest warrants.

Jean-Noël Barrot, France's Foreign Minister, said it on the sidelines of G7 foreign ministers' talks in Paris. France can confirm, he said, that Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was behind it.

So what actually happened?

Go back four weeks, to the early hours of 12 October. Attackers remotely took control of refrigeration systems in hundreds of French supermarkets and independent stores. They pushed the temperature up to 50 degrees Celsius. About 700 of France's roughly 10,000 supermarkets were hit.

E-Leclerc, Intermarché, Carrefour, Monoprix and Coopérative U all got hit.

Intermarché alone lost tens of millions of euros in a single day. Fresh food, frozen food, all of it spoiled. And at least 15 fires broke out as the hackers forced the units hotter.

So why did it take four weeks to name Iran?

Because France needed proof first.

France's cyber agency, ANSSI, traced the attack to Shahid Kaveh. That's a cyber unit tied to the IRGC. Investigators found the attackers used Farsi, and IP addresses linked to devices inside Iran.

That's what turned a hunch into an accusation. Said out loud, at a G7 meeting, by France's own Foreign Minister.

And France hasn't stopped at an accusation.

Laure Beccuau, the Paris prosecutor, has opened a formal criminal investigation. She says it's organised cybercrime, done to serve the interests of a foreign power. Iran.

Her office wants international arrest warrants. For the leader of Shahid Kaveh. And his two deputies.

France has also summoned Iran's ambassador. And Barrot says France will push for sanctions against those responsible, at a European level.