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TEHRAN, Iran — Iran's parliament authorized the government Tuesday to retaliate against countries that inspect cargo on Iranian ships and aircraft as part of new U.N. sanctions over its nuclear program.

Lawmakers, hoping to discourage compliance with a fourth round of Security Council penalties, passed a bill allowing the government to respond in kind, with cargo inspections of its own.

Last month's Security Council resolution calls on, but does not require, all countries to cooperate in cargo inspections if there are "reasonable grounds" to believe the items could contribute to the Iranian nuclear program, and any inspection must receive the consent of the ship's flag state.

The new sanctions, which also include financial penalties, were imposed because of Iran's refusal to halt uranium enrichment, a technology the United States and other world powers suspect Tehran is seeking to master as a possible pathway to nuclear weapons. Iran says it is only after nuclear power.

In Geneva, Iran's parliament Speaker Ari Larijani said his country's new law should serve notice that it accepts only the conditions in the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, which grants signatories the right to develop peaceful nuclear energy as long as they do not acquire atomic weapons.

"There should be a balance between the obligations and the rights within the framework of the NPT," he told journalists through an interpreter. "If they ignore our rights, then they co... >>>