Iranians protest after Friday prayers following drone attack on Iran

Iranians in Tehran took to the streets after prayers on Friday (April 19) in response to an apparent Israeli attack on Iran.

Earlier on Friday, explosions echoed over the Iranian city of Isfahan in what sources described to be an Israeli attack, but Tehran played down the incident and indicated it had no plans for retaliation - a response that appeared gauged towards averting region-wide war.

The limited scale of the attack and Iran's muted response appeared to signal a successful effort by diplomats who have been working to avert all-out war since an Iranian drone and missile attack on Israel last Saturday (April 13).

Iranian media and officials described a small number of explosions, which they said resulted from air defences hitting three drones over the central Iranian city. Notably, they referred to the incident as an attack by "infiltrators", rather than by Israel, obviating the need for retaliation.

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However, speaking before Friday prayers in Tehran, the Iranian army ground forces commander Kiumars Heydari said, "The Zionist regime should know that if it makes a mistake, this time it will be punished harder and more severely."

Violence between Israel and Iranian proxies across the Middle East has intensified throughout six months of bloodshed in Gaza, raising fears that the longstanding foes' shadow war could spiral into a direct conflict.

Israel had said it would retaliate after Saturday's strikes, the first-ever direct attack on Israel by Iran, which caused no deaths after Israel and its allies shot down hundreds of missiles and drones.

Tehran launched those attacks in response to a presumed Israeli airstrike on April 1 that destroyed a building in Iran's embassy compound in Damascus and killed several Iranian officers including a top general.