President Trump honored the victims and heroes who came “face to face with true evil” during the Sept. 11 terror attacks on a clear blue morning 25 years ago and said the fight against Islamic terror remains vital today.
Speaking at the Pentagon, Mr. Trump on Friday recounted personal stories of the victims and witnesses on that fateful day in 2001. He said the U.S. must continue to thwart its enemies, a direct allusion to the war against the Islamic regime in Iran.
“We will never, ever forget,” Mr. Trump said. “That’s why we fight today. We don’t have a choice. There can only be victory. We fight hard. We fight to win.”
He said the U.S. is being “tested today, and we’re winning that test, very handily.”
“The Islamic republic of Iran will never, ever have a nuclear weapon,” Mr. Trump said to applause from the audience.
The president sat quietly with first lady Melania Trump while officials read the names of those who died when the plane hit the Pentagon, with the toll of a bell between each reading.
Hijackers took over American Airlines Flight 77 and flew it into the Pentagon, killing 125 people in the building and 59 passengers and crew aboard the plane.
The attack was part of a series of al Qaeda-sponsored terror attacks that morning that included a massive attack on the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan and the crash of United Airlines Flight 93 in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Nearly 3,000 people were killed.
“September 11 reminded us of the terrible power of hate. The 25 years since have shown us the even greater power of the American spirit to endure and prevail and to win,” Mr. Trump said.
The United States Marine Band opened the Pentagon ceremony with the national anthem while Mr. Trump stood and saluted.
The ceremony was also attended by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine, Homeland Secretary Markwayne Mullin and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who served as national security adviser under President George W. Bush at the time of the terror attacks.
Ms. Rice recounted how she, at first, thought a plane striking the World Trade Center had been a “strange accident.”
“But within 17 minutes, a second plane hit the World Trade Center,” she said, recounting the scramble among senior officials to understand the situation.
“There was no doubt, the United States of America was at war,” she said. “Today, we remember the thousands of innocent lives that were tragically taken 25 years ago. And here at the Pentagon, we feel the presence of 184 souls who were lost. Behind every name that we recite, there is a story, a life that mattered, a future unfulfilled.
“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.”
The president’s son Donald Trump Jr., Attorney General Todd Blanche, Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Education Secretary Linda McMahon also attended the ceremony.
Vice President J.D. Vance attended the Sept. 11 ceremony at ground zero in New York.
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