U.S. President Donald Trump commemorated the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, affirming that the nation would perpetually remember the victims and their families, while also commenting on the ongoing U.S. military operations in Iran.
This marked the second consecutive year that Trump observed the anniversary at the Pentagon, situated in Arlington, Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C. On Friday, Trump and his spouse, Melania, listened as the names of 184 individuals who lost their lives at the fortified Pentagon were read aloud, following the hijacking of American Airlines Flight 77.
“No one can truly prepare for a day like 9/11, but we can always choose to embody the kind of nation that the world witnessed in the days that followed,” Trump remarked, citing the heroism of first responders and other Americans on September 11, 2001.
However, both Trump and U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth included comments in their speeches that defended military actions against Iran, which have persisted for more than six months.
“We honor the service members currently striving to ensure that the world’s leading sponsor of terror, the Islamic Republic of Iran, will never possess a nuclear weapon,” Trump stated, eliciting a modest round of applause.
Hegseth, on the other hand, was more expansive and candid regarding the conflict that commenced on February 28.
“We are still sending terrorists to where they belong, to hell, and tankers to the ocean floor, where they rightfully belong,” he declared.
Dignitaries, survivors and their families are gathering in New York to mark 25 years since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The site of the former World Trade Centre still conjures powerful emotions for those affected by that day — including some Canadian first responders.
In total, four commercial aircraft were hijacked during the 9/11 attacks, which were claimed by al-Qaeda, a group designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. government two years prior. Two planes crashed into the World Trade Center, bringing down its twin towers, while another went down in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Officials determined that the hijackers of the aircraft that crashed in Pennsylvania were aiming for Washington, D.C., but their plans were thwarted when passengers and crew fought back in the cockpit.
In total, nearly 3,000 individuals died, including 24 Canadians.
9/11 widow criticizes U.S. government
Vice-President JD Vance was present at the New York observance at Ground Zero in Lower Manhattan, alongside former presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden, as well as numerous current and former New York state and city officials. Bush was the sitting president during the attacks, having been taken from scheduled events in Florida to a secure military facility in Nebraska.
Typically, political speeches are avoided during the New York commemoration, where relatives read the names of all the victims, interspersed with moments of silence at significant points during the timeline of the attacks.
After reading the name of her late husband Tom at the 25th anniversary 9/11 ceremony in New York, Terry Strada expresses frustration over yearslong legal battle she’s helped spearhead to hold Saudi Arabia legally liable for the 2001 attacks.
However, Terry Strada, the national chair of 9/11 Families United, who has led a lengthy legal initiative to hold the Saudi monarchy accountable for the attacks, broke with tradition after reciting her late husband Tom’s name.
“How can it be that we have no justice for the role that Saudi Arabia played in your murder?” she questioned.
“For 25 years, various administrations, including those represented here today, have opted to protect the Saudis rather than stand with the families of 9/11,” Strada stated.
Rosanne Spirito, 49, and her daughters Sabrina, 22, and Amanda, 20, stand at the 9/11 memorial reflecting pool on Friday in New York. Spirito’s sister, Catherine LoGuidice, who worked in the North Tower of the World Trade Center, was killed on Sept. 11, 2001. (Adam Gray/The Associated Press)
For the first time, this year’s ceremony included a moment of silence to honor individuals who were exposed to the toxic dust clouds resulting from the fiery collapse of the twin towers and who have since succumbed to cancer and other illnesses.
Zohran Mamdani, New York City’s first Muslim mayor, was an elementary school student in the city during the attacks. This week, he expressed his desire for the anniversary to emphasize the victims’ families, first responders, and residents who came together after the attacks, which he described as a “horrific act of terror.”
The customary reading of the victims’ names at Ground Zero concluded shortly before 1 p.m. ET.
Visitors to the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pa., attend an observance on Friday. (Gene J. Puskar/The Associated Press)
At the Manhattan memorial on Friday, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick wiped away tears yet smiled as he gazed fondly at the names of Cantor Fitzgerald employees etched on the parapets surrounding the footprints of the fallen towers. Lutnick was the CEO of that investment firm when the World Trade Center was attacked, resulting in the deaths of 658 of its 960 employees.
Officials from the Trump administration also participated in a ceremony in Shanksville. Besides the official federal commemorations, the milestone anniversary prompted memorial observances — wreath-laying, flag displays, moments of silence, vigils, and readings of victims’ names — across the nation.
-
‘Nothing happens here. You’re safe’: 9/11 survivors, responders recall attack aftermath
-
Inside the New York lab using genetic genealogy to identify 9/11 victims’ remains
In Canada, a solemn ceremony was held in Newfoundland. Thirty-eight planes carrying over 6,500 passengers landed in Gander, Newfoundland and Labrador, as air traffic across North America came to a standstill and planes were redirected.
The attacks transformed North American aviation, led to increased federal surveillance, intelligence-gathering capabilities, and banking regulations, while sparking ongoing discussions about the balance between security and liberty. The Department of Homeland Security was one of the new establishments that emerged post-9/11.
Al-Qaeda’s deadly attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, shook the world and launched a cycle of war that outlasted its reign as the world’s chief terror network. For The National, Margaret Evans examines al-Qaeda’s decline and resurgence as a global threat.
The U.S.-led global campaign against terrorism, which included the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, arose from that day. The U.S. military located and eliminated al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Pakistan in 2011, yet the alleged mastermind of 9/11, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, is still awaiting trial 23 years after his capture at a U.S. military facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Canada, under Prime Minister Jean Chrétien at the time, supported the U.S. military efforts in Afghanistan, resulting in the deaths of 159 Canadian service members and seven civilians throughout the prolonged deployment.