Belgian ministers at odds over Iran's alleged role in refrigerator cyberattacks


FILE PHOTO: Belgium's Interior Minister Bernard Quintin arrives at the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula to attend a religious service (Te Deum) on Belgian National Day in Brussels, Belgium, July 21, 2026. REUTERS/Omar Havana/File Photo

BRUSSELS, Nov 13 (Reuters) - ⁠Belgian Interior Minister Bernard Quintin said Iran ⁠was "very likely" behind the recent refrigerator ‌cyberattacks on European shops, while Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot said there was insufficient evidence to draw conclusions.

"There was enough ​evidence from our security services ⁠for me to say ⁠that Iran is very likely behind the cyberattacks ⁠we ‌have seen targeting our shops," Quintin told Belgian broadcaster VRT NWS Thursday ⁠evening.

Quintin made similar comments earlier on Thursday, ​but Prévot ‌struck a more cautious tone.

"The information currently ⁠available to ​us is insufficient to officially hold Iran responsible," Prévot said in a statement.

He added that any ⁠official attribution of a cyberattack ​to a foreign actor must be handled through the Foreign Ministry and that Belgium's federal prosecutor's ⁠office was still investigating the matter.

The attack earlier this month raised temperatures in refrigerator and freezer units at dozens of stores.

French officials on ​Monday accused Iran's Revolutionary Guards ⁠of responsibility for similar attacks last month, ​saying there would be consequences ‌for Iran.

Iran has routinely denied ​carrying out malicious cyber operations.

(Reporting by Charlotte Van Campenhout, Editing by Mark Potter)

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