President Donald Trump led a Pentagon 9/11 ceremony on Friday as the United States marked the 25th anniversary of the terrorist attacks, with a giant American flag unfurled over the building’s damaged western side at sunrise.
Trump and first lady Melania Trump sat on stage as the names of the 184 people killed at the Pentagon were read aloud. A bell sounded after each name during the solemn remembrance in Arlington, Virginia.
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and senior military leaders watched the flag-lowering ceremony earlier in heavy rain, honouring the site where hijacked American Airlines Flight 77 struck on 11 September 2001.
In his address, Mr Trump recalled the sense of solidarity that followed the attacks, saying: “We were all New Yorkers that day. Every one of us. We were all New Yorkers. We were all family.”
Nearly 3,000 people were killed when 19 al-Qaida hijackers seized four passenger planes. Two aircraft were flown into the World Trade Centre in New York, one hit the Pentagon and a fourth crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after passengers fought back.
The ceremony was Mr Trump’s second consecutive 9/11 anniversary observance at the Pentagon. The New York-born president last attended the Ground Zero commemoration in 2024.
Vice-President JD Vance attended the New York ceremony alongside former presidents, while other administration officials took part in events in Shanksville.
The White House had designated Friday, 11 September 2026, as Patriot Day and called for the US flag to be flown at half-mast in honour of the 2,977 victims of the attacks.
At a separate event on Tuesday, Mr Trump said 9/11 was one of the rare moments in history that divided time into “what came before” and what followed. The Tunnel to Towers Foundation event featured a 21-foot steel beam recovered from the South Tower of the World Trade Centre.
