By Collin Binkley, Aamer Madhani and Meg Kinnard
President Donald Trump observed Friday’s 25th anniversary by speaking about the Sept. 11 attacks at a ceremony at the Pentagon commemorating the lives lost when al-Qaida militants hijacked planes and killed nearly 3,000 people in three locations, upending American foreign policy and national security.
Trump and first lady Melania Trump listened as the names of the 184 people killed at the Pentagon that day were read aloud, a bell tolling between each. In his remarks, Trump recounted the stories of several of the victims. “We will never, ever forget,” Trump said. “That’s why we fight today. We don’t have a choice.”
Earlier, in a downpour at daybreak, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and top military officials stood outside and watched as a giant American flag was unfurled on the building struck by one of those planes a quarter- century ago.
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It’s the second year in a row for Trump to mark the day at the Pentagon. The president, who is originally from New York, last attended the ground zero ceremony there in 2024.
Vice President JD Vance is attending the New York observance alongside former presidents, while other administration officials are at the ceremony in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Vance had planned to be in New York for the anniversary last year but instead flew to Salt Lake City to be with the family of Charlie Kirk after the conservative activist was assassinated.
Trump began his remarks by recalling the sense of American unity following the attacks. “In those harrowing days after the attacks, we saw the authentic spirit of our nation,” Trump said. “We were all New Yorkers that day. Every one of us. We were all New Yorkers. We were all family.”
The president and his defense secretary sought to connect the events of 9/11 to the war with Iran. Trump saluted the service members “working right now to ensure the world’s No. 1 sponsor of terror — the Islamic Republic of Iran — will never, ever have a nuclear weapon.”
Hegseth said the U.S. military had “laid waste to the world’s most prolific state sponsor of terrorism.” He added: “Our warriors have fought an Islamic theocracy that has wished us death for nearly half a century, that cheered on 9/11, a regime that has sponsored terrorist attacks against Americans for decades, killing thousands, including our comrades in Iraq, in Afghanistan.”
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