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'That's why we fight': Trump links 9/11 to Iran conflict in 25th anniversary speech
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth also lashed out at Iran in his remarks to the Pentagon ceremony
- PUBLISHED: Fri 11 Sept 2026, 9:50 PM
- By:
- AFP
US President Donald Trump vowed Friday that the United States would never forget the September 11, 2001 attacks and suggested the country was continuing the "war on terror" 25 years later by fighting Iran.
Speaking at the Pentagon after skipping the main 9/11 commemorations in New York, Republican Trump also hit out at domestic "fanatics" in an apparent swipe at Democrats.
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"Today we renew the sacred oath that we first swore in their names a quarter of a century ago. We will never, ever forget. That's why we fight today. We don't have a choice. There can only be victory. We fight hard. We fight to win," said the president, who was accompanied by First Lady Melania Trump.
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One of the jets hijacked on 9/11 hit the Pentagon in Washington, killing 184 people who were remembered by a single bell tolling as their names were read out.
But presidents have previously marked major anniversaries by attending several sites including New York, where the majority of the 2,977 victims were killed in the attacks on the World Trade Center.
Trump went on to link the fight against Al-Qaeda launched by his Republican predecessor George W. Bush to the US-Israeli war on Iran which is now in its seventh month.
"Today we salute every member of the United States military who served in the 'War on Terror.' It is a war on sick, horrible terror," Trump said.
"And we salute the service members working right now to ensure the world's number one sponsor of terror, the Islamic Republic of Iran, will never ever have a nuclear weapon."
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also lashed out at Iran in his remarks to the Pentagon ceremony.
"Over the past six months, we have laid waste to the world's most prolific state sponsor of terrorism. Our warriors have fought an Islamic theocracy that has wished us death for nearly half a century," Hegseth said.
The Iran war has slid into a stalemate with Iran largely maintaining its grip on the Strait of Hormuz, and keeping oil prices high, despite sporadic exchanges of fire with the United States.