On the twenty-fifth anniversary of September 11, a day long reserved for grief and remembrance, President Trump and Defense Secretary Hegseth stood at the Pentagon and recast the ceremony as a platform for an ongoing and deeply unpopular war with Iran. By weaving the current military campaign into the moral fabric of the 2001 attacks, the administration sought historical legitimacy for a conflict that polls suggest most Americans do not support. Even as officials spoke, families of the original victims gathered in New York to demand a reckoning of a different kind — accountability from Saudi A
Trump, Hegseth use 9/11 memorial to defend unpopular Iran war
That's why we fight today. We don't have a choice.
Mark
Why would the administration use a 9/11 memorial to defend a war that's unpopular? Doesn't that seem like a misuse of the occasion?
Mimi
They're making a strategic argument—that Iran represents the same kind of threat that produced 9/11, and that fighting it now honors the victims then. Whether that argument holds is another question.
Luke
But the source doesn't actually establish that connection. We know the Iran war is unpopular. We know they made these speeches. But we don't have polling on whether Americans see Iran as a 9/11-related threat, or whether this rhetorical move changed anyone's mind.
Mark
What about Hegseth's claim that Iran's defenses are gone? That sounds like a major assertion.
Mimi
He said it directly at the ceremony. But the reporting flags it—there's evidence to the contrary. So we're seeing a claim made in an official setting that doesn't match what observers on the ground are seeing.
Luke
Right. And that's important to note, but we should be careful not to overstate what "evidence to the contrary" means. The source doesn't specify what that evidence is or who's assessing it. It's a flag, not a full debunking.
Mark
What struck me most was Terry Strada's statement about Saudi Arabia. How does that fit into this story?
Mimi
It's a reminder that 9/11 accountability is still unresolved in some ways. While the administration is invoking the attacks to justify current policy, families of victims are still pressing for answers about who helped the hijackers.
Luke
And that's a separate issue from the Iran war, which is worth noting. The source connects them only loosely—both happened at 9/11 memorials on the same day. We shouldn't assume they're part of the same policy debate unless we have evidence they are.
Mark
So what's the real story here?
Mimi
An administration using a national day of remembrance to build political support for an unpopular military campaign. Whether that works depends on what happens next.
Luke
And whether the public buys the connection between Iran and 9/11. That's the unstated question underneath all of this.
Le Pouls
- A solemn anniversary was transformed into a war rally, as Trump and Hegseth used the Pentagon's 9/11 ceremony to argue that bombing Iran is the rightful continuation of the post-9/11 mission.
- The Iran conflict, now more than six months old with no defined endpoint, polls as one of the least popular military engagements in recent memory — a fact the administration's martial rhetoric did little to address.
- Hegseth claimed Iran's defensive capabilities 'are gone,' a declaration that independent assessments directly contradict, raising questions about the credibility of the administration's war narrative.
- While Trump remained in Washington, Vice President Vance attended the Ground Zero memorial in New York — a geographic split that quietly signaled the administration's competing priorities on a day meant for unity.
- At Ground Zero, 9/11 family members delivered a countervailing message: before invoking their loss to justify new wars, the government should answer for its decades-long failure to hold Saudi Arabia accountable for its alleged role in the original attacks.
On the twenty-fifth anniversary of September 11, a day long reserved for grief and remembrance, President Trump and Defense Secretary Hegseth stood at the Pentagon and recast the ceremony as a platform for an ongoing and deeply unpopular war with Iran. By weaving the current military campaign into the moral fabric of the 2001 attacks, the administration sought historical legitimacy for a conflict that polls suggest most Americans do not support. Even as officials spoke, families of the original victims gathered in New York to demand a reckoning of a different kind — accountability from Saudi Arabia, whose alleged ties to the hijackers remain, a quarter century later, unresolved.
On the twenty-fifth anniversary of September 11, President Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth stood at the Pentagon — still bearing the scars of the hijacked airliner that killed 189 people there — and used the memorial to make a public case for the ongoing US-Israel war on Iran. The choice was deliberate and conspicuous: a ceremony historically devoted to honoring the nearly 3,000 killed in 2001 became, instead, a stage for defending a conflict that most Americans oppose.
Trump saluted service members he said were working to ensure Iran would never acquire a nuclear weapon, then drew an explicit line between the 2001 attacks and today's military campaign. 'That's why we fight today,' he told the crowd. 'There can only be victory.' Hegseth was more combative still, describing Iran as a theocracy that has 'wished us death for nearly half a century' and claiming its defenses had been destroyed — a claim at odds with independent military assessments. He spoke of sending terrorists 'to hell' and tankers 'to the bottom of the ocean,' framing the struggle as one that would 'continue until judgment day.'
The decision to center the Iran war at a 9/11 memorial was a marked departure from tradition. Trump stayed in Washington for the Pentagon event while Vice President JD Vance attended the Ground Zero ceremony in New York — a split that drew its own quiet attention.
At Ground Zero, a different kind of reckoning was underway. Terry Strada, who lost her husband in the attacks and leads a coalition of victims' families, used her remarks to call on Trump to hold Saudi Arabia accountable for its alleged support of the 2001 hijackers. 'It has been one betrayal after another,' she said, urging the president to demand honesty from Riyadh. Her words laid bare a tension that no memorial speech has yet resolved: the United States has spent twenty-five years fighting in the name of September 11 while leaving its most uncomfortable questions — about allies, about complicity, about the full truth of that day — largely unanswered.
On the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, President Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth stood at the Pentagon—the building itself scarred by a hijacked airliner that killed 189 people—and used the solemn occasion to make a case for a war that most Americans oppose.
The Iran conflict, launched more than six months ago with no clear endpoint, has consistently polled poorly across the country. Yet at a ceremony traditionally devoted to remembering the nearly 3,000 people killed in the 2001 attacks, both men worked to stitch the current military campaign into the fabric of that tragedy's legacy. Trump spoke from the Pentagon, where he saluted 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 then drew an explicit line between the two conflicts, telling the assembled crowd: "That's why we fight today. We don't have a choice. There can only be victory. We fight hard. We fight to win."
Hegseth, in his own remarks at the same ceremony, adopted a more combative tone. He described Iran as "an Islamic theocracy that has wished us death for nearly half a century" and claimed the nation's defensive capabilities "are gone"—a statement contradicted by available evidence. The defense secretary's language grew increasingly martial as he spoke, declaring that the administration was "still sending terrorists where they belong – to hell" and "tankers to the bottom of the ocean where they belong." He framed the struggle as one that would "continue until judgment day," calling for a new generation of warriors willing to answer when called upon.
Hegseth also broadened the threat assessment beyond Iran's borders, warning that "enemies plot to curb our power and kill our citizens, including from Islamic terrorists abroad and at home." He credited Trump with dismantling Iran's military infrastructure, though independent assessments suggest Iran's military remains substantially intact.
The choice to center the Iran war at a 9/11 memorial marked a departure from how these ceremonies have typically unfolded. Trump remained in Washington for the Pentagon event, while Vice President JD Vance traveled to New York for the Ground Zero memorial—a split that itself drew notice.
Meanwhile, at the New York ceremony, Terry Strada, whose husband was killed in the 2001 attacks and who leads a group of 9/11 victims' families, delivered a pointed message to the administration. She called on Trump to hold Saudi Arabia accountable for its alleged role in supporting the terrorists who carried out the attacks. "It has been one betrayal after another," she said. "President Trump can still change that. Tell the Saudis to stop lying. Tell them that if they want to be friends with the USA, they cannot continue to deny all of this – all of the pain, all of the destruction that we have all been suffering through." Her remarks underscored a separate, unresolved tension in US foreign policy: the relationship with Saudi Arabia despite longstanding questions about the kingdom's connections to the 9/11 hijackers.
Citations marquantes
It has been one betrayal after another. President Trump can still change that. Tell the Saudis to stop lying.— Terry Strada, 9/11 victims' family advocate
We're still sending terrorists where they belong – to hell. And tankers to the bottom of the ocean where they belong.— Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, at Pentagon 9/11 memorial ceremony
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War & Conflict