The pivotal waterway is much more than a global economic choke point. It is a politically and culturally dynamic region with its own dangerous undercurrents.

Two Navy guided-missile destroyers entered the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, the first American warships to transit the strait since the U.S.-Israel offensive in Iran began on Feb. 28. USS Frank E. Peterson (DDG-121) and USS Michael Murphy (DDG-112) are now in the Persian Gulf after transiting the strait as part of the U.

The USS Frank E. Petersen and USS Michael Murphy sailed into the Persian Gulf to start preparations for sweeping the waterway for explosives.

Iran’s armed forces said a U.S. blockade of vessels entering or exiting Iranian ports would constitute an illegal “act of piracy.” If the country’s ports are threatened, “no port in the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman will be safe,