America marks 25 years since September 11 attacks

Americans gathered Friday in New York, Virginia and Pennsylvania to mark 25 years since the September 11 attacks, honoring nearly 3,000 people killed when hijacked planes struck the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in rural Pennsylvania.

At Ground Zero in Manhattan, relatives read the names of the dead for nearly four hours beside the two reflecting pools that mark the footprints of the Twin Towers. Moments of silence were observed at the times the planes struck and at the moments the towers fell, part of an annual ritual of bells and remembrance.

This year, the BBC reported, a seventh bell was rung to honor the thousands who later died from diseases, including cancer, linked to dust and smoke from the towers’ collapse. U.S. health officials say illnesses related to the attacks have since claimed more than three times the nearly 3,000 lives lost on September 11, 2001.

Vice President JD Vance attended the New York memorial with all four living former U.S. presidents and first ladies, the BBC reported. George W. Bush, who was president at the time of the attacks, was joined by former Presidents Joe Biden, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton.

At the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, President Donald Trump led a ceremony attended by cabinet secretaries and Condoleezza Rice, who was U.S. secretary of state on 9/11. American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon that day, killing 184 people.

“Today we renew the sacred oath that we first swore in their names a quarter of a century ago,” Trump said. “We will never, ever forget. That’s why we fight today.”

He also said, “In those harrowing days after the attacks, we saw the authentic spirit of our nation. We were all New Yorkers that day, every one of us. The 25 years since have shown us the even greater power of the American spirit to endure and prevail and to win.”

Trump linked the “war on terror” that followed the attacks, which led to years of U.S. involvement in Middle East wars, with his current conflict in Iran, the BBC reported. He told the crowd that the Islamic Republic “will never, ever have a nuclear weapon.”

Families also gathered in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where United Airlines Flight 93 crashed after passengers and crew fought back against the hijackers. Forty people aboard were killed. Al Jazeera reported that Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro ordered flags in the state to fly at half-staff to “honor the bravery of the men and women who stood up to evil and ran towards danger while others were running away.”

At the New York ceremony, Terry Strada, whose husband Tom Strada was killed, criticized Saudi Arabia and what she described as failures by U.S. officials to hold the kingdom accountable.

“You are missed more with each year that passes,” said Strada, national chairperson of 9/11 Families United. “But how can it be 25 years and still we have no justice for the role that Saudi Arabia played in your murder?” Her remarks drew applause, the BBC reported.

Most of the hijackers were from Saudi Arabia, and planning was led by al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden, a member of a prominent Saudi family. Saudi officials have repeatedly denied involvement, and the 2004 9/11 Commission Report cleared the country of involvement.

Commemorations were also held outside the United States. The BBC reported that Buckingham Palace hosted a ceremonial event attended by British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband and U.S. Ambassador Warren Stephens. The Toronto Stock Exchange remembered colleagues who died, and in Milan, Italian and U.S. firefighters climbed 110 floors of the Galfa Tower in uniform, honoring the emergency responders killed at the 110-story Twin Towers.