ARLINGTON, VA – September 11, 2026 (STL.News) President Donald Trump joined First Lady Melania Trump, military leaders, families of victims, and other dignitaries Friday at the Pentagon to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, honoring the Americans killed that day while declaring that the United States will never forget their sacrifice.
The ceremony marked a quarter-century since al-Qaida terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners and carried out the deadliest terrorist attack on U.S. soil.
Nearly 3,000 people were killed in attacks at New York City’s World Trade Center, the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and aboard United Airlines Flight 93, which crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
At the Pentagon ceremony, the names of the 184 people killed at the Pentagon and aboard American Airlines Flight 77 were read aloud. A bell tolled as they remembered the victims individually.
Trump used his address to recount the lives of several people killed in the attack while emphasizing what he described as the resilience of the United States during the 25 years that followed.
“We will never, ever forget,” Trump said.
Remembering the attack on the Pentagon
American Airlines Flight 77 was hijacked after departing Washington Dulles International Airport on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001.
At approximately 9:37 a.m., the Boeing 757 struck the western side of the Pentagon.
The attack killed all 64 people aboard the aircraft, including the five hijackers, as well as 125 people inside the Pentagon.
Among those killed were military personnel, civilian Department of Defense employees, airline passengers and crew members, and children traveling aboard Flight 77.
Trump highlighted some of their stories during Friday’s ceremony, including a woman expecting her first child, a family of four traveling to Australia, and three sixth-grade students on an educational trip.
Their individual stories were part of a broader message throughout the ceremony: remembering the people behind the casualty numbers.
Before the presidential observance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and senior military officials gathered outside the Pentagon as a large American flag was unfurled on the building.
The display recalled one of the enduring images from the aftermath of the Pentagon attack.
Trump says America endured
Trump told those gathered that Sept. 11 demonstrated both the destructive consequences of hatred and the ability of Americans to endure extraordinary tragedy.
“Sept. 11 reminded us of the terrible power of hate,” Trump said.
But he added, the quarter-century since the attacks demonstrated “the even greater power of the American spirit to endure and prevail, and to win.”
The president also praised police officers, firefighters, emergency medical personnel, military members and others who responded to the attacks and served in the years that followed.
“We salute our first responders and law enforcement, and we love them,” Trump said.
The Pentagon ceremony continued a series of events surrounding the milestone anniversary.
Earlier this week, Trump participated in a White House-area commemoration featuring a 16,000-pound steel beam recovered from the wreckage of the World Trade Center’s South Tower.
During that event, Trump posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Welles Crowther, the 24-year-old equities trader remembered as the “Man in the Red Bandana” for helping others escape the South Tower before he was killed.
Trump also announced that the U.S. Coast Guard would commission a Fast Response Cutter honoring FDNY firefighter and Coast Guard reservist Jeffrey Palazzo, one of the 343 New York City firefighters killed on Sept. 11.
Iran enters Trump’s 9/11 address
Friday’s Pentagon remarks also connected the memory of Sept. 11 with the country’s current national-security challenges.
Trump specifically addressed Iran and the ongoing U.S. conflict with Tehran, saying American service members are working to prevent the Islamic Republic from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
Trump described Iran as the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism and said the United States would not allow Tehran to acquire nuclear weapons.
Defense Secretary Hegseth also addressed the current conflict during the Pentagon ceremony, linking America’s current military operations to its broader responsibility to protect the United States from terrorism and other threats.
The references gave the 2026 ceremony an immediate geopolitical dimension that distinguishes the 25th anniversary from many previous Sept. 11 observances.
The United States has been engaged in an escalating military and economic confrontation with Iran in 2026, while the Trump administration has expanded sanctions and other pressure against Tehran.
Trump’s inclusion of Iran in an address primarily devoted to remembering Sept. 11 underscored how the administration views the lessons of the attacks through the lens of current national-security policy.
Ceremonies across the United States
The Pentagon was one of three principal sites where Americans gathered Friday to commemorate the anniversary.
At the National September 11 Memorial in Lower Manhattan, relatives gathered where the World Trade Center once stood.
The ceremony began with a moment of silence at 8:46 a.m., marking the moment American Airlines Flight 11 struck the North Tower.
Families then began the lengthy tradition of reading the names of the 2,977 victims killed in the Sept. 11 attacks, along with the six people killed in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
Additional moments of silence marked the impact of United Airlines Flight 175 against the South Tower, the attack on the Pentagon, the collapse of the two World Trade Center towers and the crash of Flight 93 in Pennsylvania.
For the first time, organizers also planned a seventh moment of silence recognizing thousands of people who have died from illnesses associated with exposure to toxic debris following the attacks.
Vice President JD Vance attended the New York observance along with former Presidents George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Joe Biden.
Another ceremony was held near Shanksville, where United Airlines Flight 93 crashed after passengers and crew members fought back against the hijackers.
Investigators concluded that the hijackers intended to strike another target in Washington.
The resistance aboard Flight 93 prevented the aircraft from reaching its intended destination, but all 40 passengers and crew members were killed.
A generation has passed since 9/11
The 25th anniversary carries particular significance because an entire generation of Americans has now reached adulthood without having personally experienced Sept. 11, 2001.
For Americans old enough to remember that morning, the images remain among the most recognizable in modern history: smoke pouring from the World Trade Center, the towers collapsing, destruction at the Pentagon and emergency personnel rushing toward scenes from which others were fleeing.
For millions of younger Americans, however, Sept. 11 is increasingly an event learned through history lessons, documentaries, memorials and accounts passed down by parents and grandparents.
The consequences of the attacks extended far beyond the immediate loss of life.
Sept. 11 fundamentally reshaped American foreign policy, aviation security, intelligence gathering, immigration procedures, and domestic counterterrorism operations.
The United States launched military operations in Afghanistan weeks after the attacks. The broader post-9/11 era ultimately involved American military personnel serving across the Middle East and other parts of the world.
The attacks also resulted in the creation of the Department of Homeland Security and sweeping changes to airport security and the country’s intelligence and counterterrorism infrastructure.
Twenty-five years later, their effects remain embedded in American government and daily life.
The continuing toll of September 11
The human cost also did not end in 2001.
Thousands of firefighters, police officers, construction workers, volunteers, residents, and others were exposed to toxic dust and debris around the World Trade Center site.
Many subsequently developed cancers, respiratory illnesses and other serious health conditions linked to their exposure.
The World Trade Center Health Program now serves more than 150,000 people, demonstrating the extraordinary duration of the attacks’ health consequences.
For victims’ families, meanwhile, anniversaries remain deeply personal.
Friday’s ceremonies again centered those families rather than the attacks’ historical or political consequences.
At the Pentagon, photographs, names and stories transformed a casualty figure of 184 into individual lives — parents, children, spouses, coworkers, military personnel and travelers whose ordinary Tuesday morning ended in an act of terrorism.
That was the central theme of Trump’s remarks.
Twenty-five years after terrorists attacked the United States, the president said America’s obligation is not merely to remember what happened, but to remember the people who were lost.
“We will never, ever forget,” Trump said.
Sources: The White House, U.S. Department of Defense, Associated Press, Reuters, and official Sept. 11 memorial information.
