French police have detained a man who made a false assertion about wearing an explosive belt while inside the Iranian consulate on Friday morning.

According to a police source, the man was observed entering the consulate around 11 a.m. (0900 GMT), appearing to carry a grenade and an explosives vest.

An elite police unit was mobilised after the consulate requested intervention and the whole neighbourhood around the consulate in the 16^th district was cordoned off. 

Le Parisien newspaper said on its website that, according to several witnesses, the man had dragged flags on the floor of the consulate and said he wanted to avenge the death of his brother.

But at around 2.45 pm, police and members of the national search and intervention brigade arrested the man without incident.

On being searched he was found not to be carrying any explosives, a police source said.

The man was later arrested after departing from the consulate. BFM television reported that he had been in possession of replica grenades.

A police source said it was the same man who had been suspected of attempted arson near the Iranian consulate in an incident last September.

It remained unclear whether the incident had any connection to the ongoing tensions between Iran and Israel.

Earlier on Friday, explosions were heard in the Iranian city of Isfahan, which sources described as an Israeli attack. However, Tehran downplayed the incident and signalled it had no intentions of retaliating - a measured response seemingly aimed at preventing a wider conflict in the region.

Image source: Reuters