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TEHRAN - A senior lawmaker warned on Friday that Iran would start inspecting foreign vessels in the Gulf, a waterway crucial for global oil supplies, if its ships received such treatment under new U.N. sanctions.



The sanctions resolution, approved by the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday, expands existing measures targeting Iranian banks and arms imports, and also calls for setting up a cargo inspection regime similar to one in place for North Korea.



The sanctions were imposed because of Iran's refusal to halt nuclear work the West suspects is aimed at making atomic bombs, a charge the major oil producer denies, saying its programme is for peaceful purposes.



"In the event that even one (Iranian) ship ... is subjected to inspection we will seek retaliation and will inspect several of their ships," Mehr News Agency quoted parliament member Hossein Ibrahimi as saying.



Ibrahimi is deputy head of parliament's national security and foreign policy commission.



"The Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf will be our field of manoeuvre in this regard and whoever harbours the intention of hurting or damaging us, will be damaged severely in return."



About 40 percent of the world's traded oil leaves the Gulf region through the Strait of Hormuz.



Underlining Iranian anger at the new sanctions, another parliament member warned a possible withdrawal from the Non- Proliferation Treaty (NPT) could be discussed.



NPT WARNING



Top Iranian officials have repeatedly said Tehran has no intention of leaving the NPT, under which its nuclear sites are subject to regular U.N. atomic watchdog inspections.



Analysts also believe Iran would think twice before quitting since such a move would betray nuclear weapons ambitions and could provoke an attack by Israel and possibly the United States.



"The West should know that if they should want to exert more pressure on Iran, the Islamic state is already considering retaliatory measures as an agenda," ISNA news agency quoted parliamentarian Mohammad Karamirad as saying.



"In this regard, parliament is considering reduced levels of cooperation with or even withdrawal from the NPT. They will also see Iran's intense reaction if they should want to create any trouble for us in the Persian Gulf or the Sea of Oman."



Karamirad is also a member of parliament's national security and foreign policy commission.



Iran's parliament has the power to oblige the government to change its cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency, as it did in 2006 after the Vienna-based body voted to report Iran to the U.N. Security Council.



However, Iran's IAEA envoy, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, said Tehran had no intention of quitting the 40-year-old pact. "We continue to be committed to the NPT," he told Reuters in Vienna.