'Don't Have A Choice But To Fight': Trump Takes Aim At Iran In 9/11 Message

US President Donald Trump marked the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks at the Pentagon on Friday, remembering the nearly 3,000 people killed by al-Qaida hijackers and reflecting on how the attacks reshaped America's national security and foreign policy.

Trump and first lady Melania Trump joined the Pentagon ceremony as the names of all 184 people killed at the building were read out. A bell rang after each name, marking the loss of those who died when hijacked planes crashed into the Pentagon, the World Trade Center and a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

In his address, Trump recalled several of the victims and said the attacks had strengthened the country's determination to defend itself.

"We will never, ever forget," Trump said. "That's why we fight today. We don't have a choice."

Trump also looked back at the sense of solidarity that swept across the country in the days after the attacks.

"In those harrowing days after the attacks, we saw the authentic spirit of our nation," Trump said. "We were all New Yorkers that day. Every one of us. We were all New Yorkers. We were all family."

Trump Returns To Pentagon For Second Year

Friday's ceremony marked the second consecutive year Trump has observed the anniversary at the Pentagon. The New York-born president had attended the ground zero commemoration in 2024.

Vice President JD Vance was in New York for this year's observance, where he joined former presidents and other dignitaries. Administration officials also gathered in Shanksville to honour the passengers and crew who died when United Airlines Flight 93 crashed after passengers attempted to stop the hijackers.

Vance had been scheduled to attend the New York ceremony last year but changed his plans after conservative activist Charlie Kirk was assassinated and travelled to Salt Lake City to be with Kirk's family.

9/11 Memory Meets Iran War

At the Pentagon ceremony, Trump and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth drew a direct connection between the legacy of 9/11 and the ongoing US conflict with Iran.

Trump praised American service members involved in the war and warned that Iran, which he described as the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism, must not be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons.

He saluted the troops "working right now to ensure the world's No. 1 sponsor of terror - the Islamic Republic of Iran - will never, ever have a nuclear weapon."

Hegseth went further, presenting the Iran war as part of the broader fight against a regime he said had threatened the US for decades.

"Our warriors have fought an Islamic theocracy that has wished us death for nearly half a century, that cheered on 9/11, a regime that has sponsored terrorist attacks against Americans for decades, killing thousands, including our comrades in Iraq, in Afghanistan," Hegseth added.

The defence secretary said the US military had "laid waste to the world's most prolific state sponsor of terrorism" during the conflict.