US Commemorates 9/11 on 25th Anniversary

The United States on Friday marked the 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks with solemn ceremonies at Ground Zero in New York, the Pentagon in Virginia and the Flight 93 crash site in Pennsylvania.

At the National September 11 Memorial in New York, Vice President JD Vance joined former presidents George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Joe Biden, along with victims’ families, survivors, first responders and other officials.

The ceremony included the traditional reading of the names of those killed in the attacks.

US President Donald Trump did not attend the Ground Zero ceremony.

Instead, Trump and First Lady Melania Trump commemorated the anniversary at the Pentagon, where 184 people died when hijacked American Airlines Flight 77 struck the building.

The ceremony included the reading of victims’ names and the unfurling of a large American flag.

Trump’s decision to mark the anniversary at the Pentagon rather than in New York became one of the notable features of this year’s commemorations.

Meanwhile, Vance represented the administration at Ground Zero alongside all four living former presidents.

The New York ceremony also included a new moment of silence honoring people who died in the years following the attacks from illnesses linked to toxic exposure at Ground Zero.

The September 11 attacks killed nearly 3,000 people and profoundly changed American foreign policy, national security and society.

Twenty-five years later, the anniversary remains a deeply emotional occasion for victims’ families, survivors and first responders, while the attacks’ political and geopolitical consequences continue to shape the United States.