Shipping companies Nippon Yusen and MOL have instructed their vessels to minimise time spent in the Gulf where possible after US strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities over the weekend. File Image / Pixabay

Two key Japanese shipping firms are cutting the time spent by their vessels in the Gulf after threats to traffic in the Strait of Hormuz from Iran.

Shipping companies Nippon Yusen and MOL have instructed their vessels to minimise time spent in the Gulf where possible after US strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities over the weekend, news agency Reuters reported on Monday.

Iran’s parliament backed closing the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday in response to the US attacks, but any final decision would rest with the country’s National Security Council.

Any widespread decision among shipping companies to avoid transiting the Strait of Hormuz would cut off significant quantities of the world’s oil supply. But traffic through the strait appears largely unaffected thus far, and exports are divided on whether an attempt to close the strait would be in Iran’s interests, or even feasible for any meaningful length of time.