France is to pull out part of its diplomatic staff from Tehran following the ransacking of Britain's embassy this week by a pro-regime mob, adding to the international backlash against an increasingly defensive Iran.

The decision -- a temporary precaution, French diplomats said Saturday -- underlined the seriousness of the crisis developing between Iran and the West amid the ratcheting up of sanctions over Tehran's controversial nuclear efforts.

Iran's Guardians Council on Monday approved a parliamentary bill demanding Britain's ambassador to Tehran be expelled within two weeks, making it law, the website for state television reported.

The confirmation by the council, whose jurists and clerics vet parliamentary texts to make sure they adhere to Islamic and constitutional rules, means Iran's foreign ministry now has to apply the measure.

Iran's parliament voted Sunday to expel the British ambassador in retaliation for fresh Western sanctions over Tehran's nuclear program and warned that other countries could also be punished.

The bill they adopted, which now has to go to the Guardians Council for approval, demands Iran's ambassador to Britain also be withdrawn as diplomatic relations are reduced to the level of charge d'affaires.

Oil prices rose on Tuesday after the West slapped economic sanctions on major crude exporter Iran, helping to offset weak demand worries caused by the Eurozone sovereign debt crisis, analysts said.

New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in January, climbed $1.43 to $98.35 a barrel.

An Iranian general killed in a massive explosion at a munitions base outside the capital on November 12 was working on an intercontinental missile, his brother told a government-run newspaper.

General Hassan Tehrani Moqaddam died while working on a "project related to intercontinental ballistic missiles," Mohammad Tehrani Moqaddam, a Revolutionary Guards commander, told Saturday's Iran newspaper.

A massive explosion at a Revolutionary Guards base just west of the Iranian capital on Saturday killed 17 members of the elite force, including a top commander, officials said, revising the toll down from 27.

"Unfortunately the fax that I received from the site of the incident was not legible, and the figure 27 was announced, whereas the number of martyrs stands at 17," Commander Ramezan Sharif said.

The U.N. atomic agency has "serious concerns" about Iran's nuclear activities, and has "credible" information Tehran may have worked on developing nuclear weapons, a report seen by Agence France Presse said Tuesday.

"The agency has serious concerns regarding possible military dimensions to Iran's nuclear program," the keenly awaited International Atomic Energy Agency report said.

The latest installment of the blockbuster Call of Duty videogame franchise went on sale Tuesday with publisher Activision saying pre-orders had topped last year's record-shattering "Call of Duty: Black Ops".

"Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3" hit stores at midnight with thousands of fans lining up to be the first to get their hands on the game, the eighth title in a franchise that has won a devoted following since it was launched in 2003.

Syria's military clampdown on protest hubs, and skirmishes pitting soldiers against armed gunmen, believed to be defectors, killed at least 11 people dead on Saturday, activists said.

Meanwhile, Iran, Syria's key ally, took a tougher stance against the regime of President Bashar Assad, openly condemning its crackdown on dissent that has left more than 3,000 people dead, most of them civilians, according to the United Nations.

Speaker Nabih Berri stressed on Friday the importance of Palestinian national unity given the talk of the recognition of an independent Palestinian state.

He said upon his arrival in Tehran to take part in the fifth international conference to support the Palestinian intifada: “It’s important to reveal to the world the conspiracies being plotted against the Palestinian cause.”