US Marks 25 Years Since 9/11 Attacks With Pentagon, Ground Zero Ceremonies

Americans commemorated the 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on Friday, with ceremonies held at the Pentagon and Ground Zero in New York.

President Donald Trump attended a remembrance at the Pentagon, vowing the United States would never, ever forget the attacks and stating, "We fight today. We fight to win." Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also spoke at the Pentagon, connecting the 2001 attacks to the ongoing conflict in Iran and an "Islamic theocracy that has wished us death for nearly half a century."

In New York, Vice President JD Vance joined four former presidents, Joe Biden, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush, at the World Trade Center memorial site. The New York ceremony, designed to be apolitical, included readings of victims' names and moments of silence marking the times of the plane impacts and tower collapses.

For the first time, a seventh moment of silence honored those who have died from illnesses linked to the toxic dust from the attacks. The attacks, carried out by al-Qaida militants who hijacked four commercial planes, killed nearly 3,000 people. Two planes struck the World Trade Center towers in New York, one hit the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and the fourth crashed in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after passengers attempted to regain control of the aircraft. The day reshaped American foreign policy and national security, leaving a decadeslong trail of grief and aftermath.