The President of the United States, Donald Trump, emphasized this Friday that the country will keep alive the memory of the victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks committed by Al Qaeda, in events for the 25th anniversary conditioned by the current offensive against Iran, which the president has framed in the "war on terror" initiated by Washington after those attacks.
In a speech delivered at the Pentagon, during the ceremony in remembrance of those who died on September 11 at that location, Trump stated: "Today we renew the sacred oath we made for the first time in their name a quarter of a century ago. Never, ever, will we forget. That is why we fight today."
The leader has defended that the United States "has no other choice" but to continue fighting and has asserted that "there can only be one thing: victory," thus linking the current campaign in the Asian country to "the war on terror" that was initiated by then-President George W. Bush and which, he said, continues today in Iran.
Trump also wanted to highlight the work of emergency services and the Armed Forces. "We pay tribute to our first responders and law enforcement, and we love them. And we pay tribute to the members of the Armed Forces who are working right now to ensure that the world's leading sponsor of terrorism, the Islamic Republic of Iran, never, ever, has a nuclear weapon," he stated, directly referring to the current U.S. offensive.
The president has drawn a parallel between the current moment and that experienced after the attacks, stating that, just like then, on 9/11, "right now we are learning what we are made of," emphasizing that American citizens must be "strong and smart."
Claim of the response to 9/11
From the headquarters of the Department of Defense, Trump reiterated that the victims of 9/11 "will never be forgotten" and has highlighted the joint reaction that the country offered in response to the terrorist attack, which caused nearly 3,000 deaths on U.S. soil.
"That day, we were all New Yorkers, every single one of us. But we were also all Americans. We were one family," he pointed out, highlighting how patriotism became a response to the brutal attack by Al Qaeda. "The enemy could destroy what American hands had built, but could not touch the struggle, the fire, and the love that was in our great American hearts," he added.
After the reading of the names of the 184 military personnel who lost their lives at the Pentagon, the occupant of the White House assured that future generations would know how "a free and unbreakable nation responded to evil," insisting that "no era will erase from the memory of time" the "heroes" of that day.
Hegseth links the campaign in Iran to the war on terror
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth took the opportunity during his speech to praise the courage of the military and civilians who faced the attack. "It was one of the darkest days in the history of the United States, but evil did not have the last word. It never has and it never will. 25 years later, the United States is stronger than ever," he stated.
Hegseth recalled that "many Americans were unaware of the Islamist threat we faced. 25 years ago, at this very hour, that was no longer the case, because history had not ended. The fight against evil continued and continues now."
In this sense, and alluding to the "price of freedom," he linked the war on terror with the ongoing offensive against Iran. According to him, "our warriors are fighting an Islamic theocracy that has wished for our death for almost half a century, that cheered on 9/11, a regime that has sponsored terrorist attacks against Americans for decades, killing thousands of people, including our comrades in arms in Iraq and Afghanistan."
Hegseth thus defended the military campaign, asserting that the United States Army "has managed to kill their leaders, destroyed their air force, and their navy lies at the bottom of the sea." "Their defenses have disappeared and we continue sending terrorists where they belong: to hell; and oil tankers, to the bottom of the ocean, where they belong," he emphasized.
The head of the Pentagon has insisted that Washington seeks, through this war, to prevent Iran from "ever having a nuclear weapon." "Economic pressure is intensifying every day. We control the strait. We will finish this fight," he emphasized, in a speech filled with references to the current military operation.
The events for the 25th anniversary of 9/11 have taken place in parallel in different parts of the country. While Trump and the military leadership participated in the ceremony at the Pentagon, in Ground Zero in New York, where the Twin Towers once stood, the traditional tribute was held, attended by all living former presidents: Joe Biden, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton, in a sober ceremony in which none of them spoke.