Trump Marks 25th Anniversary of 9/11 at the Pentagon, Ties Iran War to 'War on Terror'

President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump attended the Pentagon's 25th-anniversary 9/11 ceremony on Friday, September 11, 2026, where the names of the 184 people killed at the Pentagon were read aloud following a moment of silence at 9:37 a.m., the moment American Airlines Flight 77 struck the building. At sunrise, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and military leaders watched a 20-by-40-foot American flag unfurled down the side of the Pentagon's west face, near the Flight 77 impact site. In his remarks, Trump tied the anniversary to the six-month US-Iran war, saying the US has 'really taken it to' the Islamic Republic of Iran, 'the world's number one sponsor of terror,' to ensure 'Iran will never have a nuclear weapon,' and vowed 'there can only be victory. We fight hard, we fight to win.' It was Trump's second consecutive year marking the anniversary at the Pentagon rather than Ground Zero in New York, where Vice President Vance instead joined former presidents for the observance; other administration officials attended the Flight 93 memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. In a 'Patriot Day 2026' proclamation, Trump pledged to maintain 'the strongest and most lethal military the world has ever known.' The ceremony followed a September 8 White House Ellipse tribute at which Trump posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Welles Crowther, the 'Man in the Red Bandana,' a 24-year-old equities trader and volunteer firefighter who died guiding survivors out of the World Trade Center's South Tower.