WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Friday linked the September 11, 2001 attacks to the ongoing war with Iran, saying the United States was continuing the “war on terror” 25 years later by fighting Iran.
Speaking at the Pentagon after skipping the main 9/11 commemorations in New York, President Trump also hit out at domestic “fanatics” in an apparent swipe at Democrats.
“Today we renew the sacred oath that we first swore in their names a quarter of a century ago. We will never, ever forget. That’s why we fight today,” Trump said in a speech.
“We will always remember the victims and the families of September 11th, 2001.”
“We will honor their lives. We will cherish their beautiful memories. And we will protect this country and its freedoms for every future generation.”
President Trump honors the victims and families… pic.twitter.com/N5evnuXhZt
— Fox News (@FoxNews) September 11, 2026
“We don’t have a choice. There can only be victory. We fight hard. We fight to win,” added the US President, who was accompanied by First Lady Melania Trump.
One of the jets hijacked on 9/11 hit the Pentagon in Washington, killing 184 people who were remembered by a single bell tolling as their names were read out.
But presidents have previously marked major anniversaries by attending several sites, including New York, where the majority of the 2,977 victims were killed in the attacks on the World Trade Centre.
Trump went on to link the fight against Al-Qaeda launched by his Republican predecessor George W. Bush to the US-Israeli war on Iran which is now in its seventh month.
“Today we salute every member of the United States military who served in the ‘War on Terror.’ It is a war on sick, horrible terror,” Trump said.
“And 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.”
Defence Secretary Hegseth lashes out at Iran
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth also lashed out at Iran in his remarks at the Pentagon ceremony.
“Over the past six months, we have laid waste to the world’s most prolific state sponsor of terrorism,” Hegseth said.
The Iran war has slid into a stalemate with Iran largely maintaining its grip on the Strait of Hormuz, and keeping oil prices high, despite sporadic exchanges of fire with the United States.
Trump also turned to the domestic front, a day after a Republican convention for the US midterm elections in which Trump and Vice President JD Vance accused Democrats of sympathising with the 9/11 attackers.
“A generation after 9/11, we also know that the final response to those atrocities and the ultimate victory over the perpetrators will not be found on a foreign battlefield,” Trump said.
Telling the story of a firefighter killed in the attacks whose son went on to become a US Navy veteran, Trump said it showed that “we can be a nation whose heroes are not fanatics for an abstract cause.”
In his speech to the Republican convention on Wednesday, Trump had used the same term: “With your vote in this election, you can tell these far-left lunatics and fanatics that America is not for sale to them or to anybody else.”
