‹ Back

Toggle Daily

Trump ties war on Iran to 9/11 at the Pentagon

September 12, 2026

At the Pentagon ceremony marking 25 years since the September 11 attacks, Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth defended the US-Israel war on Iran.

The Pentagon was one of the targets of the September 11, 2001 attacks, struck by a hijacked airliner that killed all 64 people onboard and 125 people inside the building; the ceremony there marks the anniversary each year.

Key facts

USA Today reports Trump telling the Pentagon audience that US service members are working to ensure the Islamic Republic of Iran never has a nuclear weapon, and quotes him earlier invoking an unnamed battlefield: "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." The Guardian reports the same ceremony, noting that the building itself was struck by a hijacked airliner, killing all 64 people onboard and 125 inside. Hegseth spoke before Trump; The Guardian and Politico both carry his line that “The struggle against evil continued, and it continues now.”

France 24, The New York Times, Politico and The Washington Post describe the same turn in the ceremony: remarks that usually center on the victims of 2001 were pointed instead at a conflict now past its sixth month. The Washington Post ties the legacy of the attacks to the Iran war in its own framing of the day, France 24 presents the speech as a defense of that war, and The New York Times and Politico report the same substance, with Politico placing Hegseth alongside Trump. The Hill reports Trump saying he was all but certain a place at the New York event had been his for the asking; his decision to remain in Washington while Vance went to Ground Zero drew criticism, which The Guardian, France 24, The New York Times, Politico and The Washington Post all note.

The Saudi accountability demand ran beside the speeches. The Guardian reports that at the New York ceremony the leader of a group of victims’ families pressed the administration to hold Saudi Arabia accountable for its alleged support of the attackers, with Terry Strada, the widow of a victim, saying “It has been one betrayal after another.” and adding that Trump can still change that USA Today, France 24, The New York Times, Politico and The Washington Post corroborate that account. What each man said, where each ceremony took place, and the criticism of Trump’s absence from New York are all corroborated across the outlets. The war’s course from here is not part of the record.

Speaking at the Pentagon, where a hijacked plane killed all 64 people aboard along with 125 people inside the building, Trump said, “We salute every member of the United States military who served in the ‘war on terror’”.

Still developing

The administration has made no answer, in these accounts, to the families’ demand that Saudi Arabia be held accountable for alleged support of the attackers. The war on Iran passed six months with no end in sight in any of the accounts, and none of them sets out what follows it.

How settled the reporting is

Reported 100% · Contested 0% · Developing 0%

Sources