Iran said on Tuesday it captured a small U.S. drone that penetrated its airspace over Gulf waters, but the White House and the U.S. Navy in the region denied the report.

The naval arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards said in a statement on the Guards website Sepahnews.com that "the unmanned U.S. drone patrolling Persian Gulf waters, performing reconnaissance and gathering intel, was captured as soon as it entered Iranian airspace."

U.S. intelligence agencies have significantly stepped up spying operations on Iran's Bushehr nuclear reactor prompted by concerns about the security of weapons-grade plutonium there, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.

Citing unnamed U.S. officials, the newspaper said the increased U.S. surveillance of Bushehr has been conducted in part by U.S. unmanned drones operating over the Gulf.

The air corridor over Iraq has emerged as a supply route for weapons for the beleaguered government of Syrian President Bashar Assad, including rockets, antitank missiles, rocket-propelled grenade and mortars, The New York Times reported late Saturday.

Citing unnamed U.S. officials, the newspaper said that to the disappointment of the administration of President Barack Obama, U.S. efforts to persuade the Iraqis to randomly inspect the flights have been largely unsuccessful.

A senior Iranian official on Friday welcomed the upgrading of the Palestinians' status at the United Nations as a "positive step."

The U.N. General Assembly vote to make Palestine a non-member observer state was "a positive and forward step and proves that the Zionist regime is illegitimate," Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said.

The U.S. Senate unanimously approved new economic sanctions Friday aimed at further crippling Iran's energy, shipping and port sectors, a year after Congress passed tough restrictions against Tehran.

The amendment, tacked on to a sweeping defense spending bill being debated by the chamber, passed 94-0, and should sail through the House of Representatives.

German police detained 11 people after a demonstration outside the Iranian embassy in Berlin during which paint and stones were lobbed at the building, police said on Thursday.

The protest late on Wednesday was organized by activists, including Iranian refugees, against "repression by the fascist government of the Islamic Republic of Iran against its opponents inside the country", the protesters said in a written statement.

Iran on Wednesday said it will pursue "with force" the sensitive work of enriching uranium, which lies at the heart of the international community's concerns over its atomic drive.

The remarks, by Iran's nuclear chief, come ahead of a meeting Thursday in Vienna of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) over lack of progress in its efforts to verify whether Tehran's atomic activities are peaceful.

Iranian airspace was violated eight times by archfoe the United States in October, Iran's foreign ministry spokesman said, adding that an official protest had been lodged with the United Nations.

"Any country violating our territory will face a serious reaction from Iran," Ramin Mehmanparast warned in a statement quoted by the media on Wednesday.

Iran must reconsider its support for the Syrian regime if it does not want to alienate Arab public opinion, the deputy chief of the Iranian-backed Palestinian movement Hamas said on Monday.

"Iran's position in the Arab world, it's no longer a good position," Mussa Abu Marzuk, whose movement's politburo had been based in Damascus, said during a briefing to reporters at his new headquarters in the Egyptian capital.

Iran is planning to build new oil storage facilities so it can store more of the fuel it is having a hard time selling due to Western sanctions over its disputed nuclear program.

State-run Press TV quoted Mahmoud Zirakchianzadeh, Director of the Iranian Offshore Oil Company, as saying nearly 8.1 million barrels will be added to Iran's crude oil storage capacity by the next summer.