US marks 25th anniversary of September 11 attacks

The United States commemorated the 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on September 11, 2026. While Vice President J.D. Vance and four former U.S. presidents gathered at Ground Zero in New York, President Donald Trump attended a ceremony at the Pentagon, where he defended the current U.S. war in Iran. The milestone comes as the long-term toll of the attacks continues to rise, with over 9,400 people having died from 9/11-related toxic dust illnesses, surpassing the initial casualty count of nearly 3,000.

9/11 25th anniversary commemorations

• ▪New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, the city's first Muslim mayor, attended the Ground Zero ceremony on September 11, 2026 despite a petition signed by over 100,000 people urging him to stay away
• ▪The United States marked the 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on September 11, 2026 with memorial rituals, moments of silence, and readings of victims' names
• ▪Vice President J.D. Vance and former Presidents George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden gathered at the National September 11 Memorial in New York for the 25th anniversary observance

Al-Qaeda hijacking casualties

• ▪The September 11, 2001 attacks resulted in the deaths of 2,977 people, in addition to six people who were killed in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing
• ▪The CIA declassified dozens of presidential daily briefs on September 11, 2026, detailing intelligence gathered about Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda leading up to the 2001 attacks
• ▪On September 11, 2001, Al-Qaeda hijackers seized four commercial jets and crashed them into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, killing nearly 3,000 people

War on terror costs

• ▪Nearly one million people have been killed as a direct result of post-9/11 conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Pakistan, and Yemen, with roughly half being civilians
• ▪The U.S. Congress appropriated nearly $150 billion over two decades to aid Afghanistan's economic development and support counterterrorism programs before the Taliban regained control in 2021
• ▪About 7,000 American service members have died in U.S. campaigns against extremism since the September 11, 2001 attacks, according to Brown University's Costs of War project

Trump Pentagon ceremony absence

• ▪During his speech at the Pentagon on September 11, 2026, President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth used the occasion to defend the current U.S. war in Iran
• ▪President Donald Trump chose to attend the 9/11 anniversary ceremony at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, rather than joining the main commemoration event at Ground Zero in New York

Post-9/11 illness deaths

• ▪The New York City Fire Department has lost 453 members to illnesses linked to toxic dust since 2001, exceeding the 343 firefighters killed on the day of the attacks
• ▪The CDC's World Trade Center Health Program provides medical care to more than 145,000 survivors and first responders, with over 57,000 members receiving certified cancer diagnoses
• ▪More than 9,400 people have died from 9/11-related illnesses, such as cancers and lung diseases, linked to the toxic dust released during the collapse of the Twin Towers

Republican midterm convention Dallas

• ▪President Donald Trump returned to the stage on September 10, 2026, during the second night of the Republicans' midterm convention in Dallas, urging supporters to vote on November 3
• ▪Vice President J.D. Vance delivered a keynote speech at the Dallas convention on September 10, 2026, raising $2 million for the Republican National Committee at a fundraiser earlier that day

Debatable claims

• ▪The United States' global war on terror was a failure
• ▪By attending the September 11 commemoration, New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani did the right thing
• ▪President Trump should not have used his 9/11 speech to defend the war in Iran