A quarter-century after the September 11, 2001 attacks, officials across the United States gathered for tributes and memorials honoring the 2,977 victims and the first responders who risked their lives.
The incident remains the deadliest terrorist attack in US history.
Four planes were hijacked that day. Two struck the World Trade Center, collapsing its Twin Towers. A third hit the Pentagon outside Washington, DC. The fourth crashed into a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after passengers and crew fought back against the hijackers.
Through social media posts, public speeches, and ceremony appearances, US leaders took varying approaches to commemorating the lives lost on that fateful day.
Here is what they said:
US President Donald Trump
US President Donald Trump remained in Washington, DC, to observe the 25th anniversary.
During the attacks, 184 people died near the capital when American Airlines Flight 77 struck the Pentagon, the headquarters of the US military.
Trump opted not to attend a Friday ceremony at the World Trade Center site in New York, where all his living presidential predecessors were present.
His vice president, JD Vance, traveled to New York instead. The World Trade Center ceremony prohibits political speeches.
In his remarks at the Pentagon, Trump described what happened as “true evil” and paid tribute to those who died.
“We will honour their lives, we will cherish their beautiful memories, and we will protect this country and its freedoms for every future generation,” Trump said.
The president also praised US troops, appearing to link the 9/11 attacks with his administration’s military operations against Iran.
“We will never, ever forget. That’s why we fight today. We don’t have a choice. There can only be victory,” Trump said.
“We salute the service members working right now to ensure the world’s number one sponsor of terror – the Islamic Republic of Iran – will never, ever have a nuclear weapon,” he later added.
US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also spoke at the Pentagon, delivering his remarks shortly before Trump.
He warned the audience to practice “eternal vigilance” against ongoing threats.
“There are still enemies who hate us. Every day, enemies plot to curb our power and kill our citizens, including from Islamic terrorists abroad and at home,” he said.
He appeared to use the 9/11 attacks as justification for the US-Israeli war against Iran, which began on February 28.
“Over the past six months, we have laid waste to the world’s most prolific state sponsor of terrorism,” Hegseth said, referring to Iran. “Our warriors have fought an Islamic theocracy that has wished us death for nearly half a century, that cheered on 9/11.”
He claimed the US military has destroyed Iran’s defenses and that the US controls the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway for international trade.
Iran has stopped commercial traffic through the strait since the start of the war.
“We’re still sending terrorists where they belong, to hell, and tankers to the bottom of the ocean where they belong,” Hegseth said. “And we’re ensuring that Iran will never have a nuclear weapon. The economic pressure tightens every day. We control the strait. We will finish this fight.”
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani attended the New York memorial service alongside former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who led the city during the attacks.
Before the event, Giuliani shook hands with the mayor despite previously urging Mamdani not to attend.
Mamdani, the city’s first Muslim mayor, had recently faced criticism from conservative politicians and victims’ family members who argued his presence would be offensive.
A Change.org petition gathered more than 100,000 signatures from those expressing concern about Mamdani’s participation.
Like all politicians at the National September 11 Memorial service, Mamdani was not permitted to speak.
Instead, the mayor released a video on social media remembering the deceased and challenging the public to honor their memory through good works.
“Twenty-five years later, we have a sacred obligation to those who were stolen from us. To care for one another as they cared for strangers. To live lives worthy of the sacrifices they made. And to build a city worthy of their courage. A city where we run toward one another,” Mamdani said.
“That is how we’ll remember.”
On Tuesday, Mamdani also released previously undisclosed documents suggesting city officials tried to downplay—or even mislead—residents about the dangerous air quality following the attacks.
US Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed
Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed used social media platform X to honor those killed in what he described as a “cruel act of terror”.
El-Sayed is locked in a tight midterm race in Michigan against Republican opponent former US Representative Mike Rogers.
Michigan’s open Senate seat is considered crucial for Democrats seeking to retake control of the chamber.
Rogers sought to create controversy over El-Sayed’s past comments about the September 11 attacks, pointing to audio where El-Sayed reportedly said, “9/11 scarred our country in profound ways, but what we did after 9/11 scarred millions of other people.”
During the Republican Party’s first-ever midterm convention in Dallas, Texas, on Thursday, Rogers attacked El-Sayed, who is Muslim, accusing him of being sympathetic to terrorists and highlighting his links to left-wing commentator Hasan Piker.
“I never imagined that, 25 years after 9/11, I would be running against somebody who campaigns with Hasan Piker, who thinks America deserved it,” Rogers said. “Yep, but here we are.”
On Friday, El-Sayed pushed back against Rogers’s attacks in a social media post.
“Nothing can justify the murder of innocent civilians. Nothing,” El-Sayed wrote.
He also called on Americans to help build a country that was “more inclusive, more empowering, more just” in tribute to the lives lost.
“They didn’t just attack America that day. They attacked the idea of America,” El-Sayed said of the 19 al-Qaeda hijackers.
“The notion of a nation brought together by ideals where it doesn’t matter how you pray or if you pray at all. A place where freedom and commitment to justice bind us, even if at times we struggle to fully realise it.”
