President Donald Trump used a Pentagon ceremony marking the 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks to defend his administration's war in Iran, drawing a direct connection between the campaign against al-Qaeda and current US-Israeli military action.
Trump spoke at the Pentagon on September 11, 2026, accompanied by First Lady Melania Trump. The venue carried particular significance because one of the four hijacked aircraft struck the building in Washington, killing 184 people.
He framed the military campaign as a continuation of the commitment made after the attacks. “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,” Trump said.
He added: “On days like 9/11, we learn what a country is truly made of. We're learning right now what we're made of.”
Trump said the US was acting to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. “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,” he said.
“We don't have a choice. There can only be victory. We fight hard. We fight to win,” Trump said. He also told the ceremony: “We're still sending terrorists where they belong – to hell.”
The remarks placed the Iran conflict within the language of the US response to the attacks carried out by al-Qaeda. The war is in its seventh month and has reached a stalemate, with Iran retaining its grip on the Strait of Hormuz.
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth also portrayed the campaign as an action against terrorism. “Over the past six months, we have laid waste to the world's most prolific state sponsor of terrorism,” he said.
Trump skipped the main 9/11 commemorations in New York to speak at the Pentagon. His decision put the anniversary address at the site of one of the attacks and at the centre of his argument for the continuing operations in Iran.
The September 11 attacks were four coordinated suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airplanes on 9/11. The attacks killed 2,977 people.
Trump's Pentagon address explicitly joined remembrance of those attacks to the present military campaign. The brief provided no details of the audience's response, any broader reaction to the remarks, or whether Trump set out further military plans for Iran.
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