The US marked 25 years since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks with ceremonies at Ground Zero in New York City, the Pentagon outside Washington, D.C., and the site of the crash of Flight 93 in Pennsylvania. President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump attended the Pentagon ceremony, where the names of the 184 people killed in the building and aboard American Airlines Flight 77 were read aloud.
Trump described the attacks as a moment when the country "came face to face with true evil" and emphasized the unity that swept the US in their aftermath. "We were all New Yorkers, but we were also all Americans. We were all family. We were all patriots," Trump said.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) at New York City September 11th 25th Anniversary Commemoration Ceremony pic.twitter.com/ctq0lDxrik
— CSPAN (@cspan) September 11, 2026
He later declared: "We will never, ever forget. That's why we fight today. We don't have a choice. There can only be victory."
The president recalled, among others, a woman who was pregnant with her first child, a family of four traveling to Australia and three sixth-grade students who were killed aboard the plane that struck the Pentagon.
Trump explicitly linked the struggle that began after al-Qaida's attack to the current war against Iran. He saluted troops serving today to ensure that "the world's number one sponsor of terror," the Islamic Republic of Iran, would never obtain a nuclear weapon.
War Secretary Pete Hegseth was even more forceful, saying the US was still "sending terrorists where they belong, to hell, and tankers to the bottom of the ocean, where they belong."
Condoleezza Rice, who served as White House national security adviser at the time of the attacks, provided another unusual moment by accepting a measure of responsibility for the failure to prevent them. Rice said she continued to feel profound pain that "those of us in authority on that day did not see the nature of the danger in time to prevent the attack of 9/11."
"We did what we knew how to do, but it was not enough," she said. Rice added: "I will always carry deep personal remorse for the pain that you, the families of the fallen, still feel, and for the trauma that our country endured."
At Ground Zero, Vice President JD Vance was joined by all four living former US presidents: George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Joe Biden. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani also attended despite a petition signed by more than 100,000 people and calls by relatives of victims, former police officers and Republicans to bar him from the ceremony.
.@POTUS: "Today, we renew the sacred oath that we first swore in their names a quarter of a century ago: WE WILL NEVER, EVER FORGET." pic.twitter.com/GdXBqd8MO5
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) September 11, 2026
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani had said ahead of the event that Mamdani's attendance "hurts" him. Nevertheless, the two were photographed shaking hands at the ceremony, and there was no confrontation between them.
Mamdani, who did not speak at the event, had said beforehand that the day was "about those that were killed that day. It's about their families. It's about the lives that have been shattered," rather than politicians.
During the ceremony, Mamdani was seen exchanging smiles with progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), widely known as AOC, as the victims' names were being read. The footage prompted angry reactions on social media.
One of the ceremony's most charged moments came from Terry Strada, whose husband, Tom Strada, was killed in the North Tower. While reading his name, she accused Saudi Arabia of assisting the hijackers and successive US presidents of putting relations with the kingdom ahead of the victims' families.
"Tell the Saudis to stop lying," Strada said, urging Vance to carry that message back to Trump. Her remarks were met with applause and shouts of support. Fifteen of the 19 hijackers were Saudi nationals, but the kingdom has for years denied any involvement in the attacks.
For the first time, the New York ceremony included a seventh moment of silence in memory of the thousands of first responders, recovery workers and residents who have died in the years since from illnesses linked to exposure to toxic dust released by the destruction of the World Trade Center. More than 600 New York City firefighters have died since then from 9/11-related illnesses, nearly twice the 343 firefighters who were killed on the day of the attacks.
During the ceremony, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani was caught on camera laughing, with the images drawing criticism from public figures. "How the hell do you laugh while the names of those murdered on 9/11 are being read aloud?" Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) wrote. New York City Councilwoman Inna Vernikov and Meghan McCain were among others who also criticized Mamdani and Ocasio-Cortez.
