9/11 anniversary marked by Trump absence in New York

The United States marked the 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks on Friday with the main ceremony in New York taking place without President Donald Trump, who instead attended a Pentagon commemoration.

Vice President JD Vance and the four living former presidents — George W. Bush, Joe Biden, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton — attended the Ground Zero ceremony in lower Manhattan, where victims' names were read and bells marked key moments of the attacks.

Trump used his Pentagon appearance to connect the post-9/11 “war on terror” with the current conflict in Iran. “We will never, ever forget. That's why we fight today,” he said. “We don't have a choice. There can only be victory. We fight hard. We fight to win.”

The New York ceremony is usually apolitical and has no speeches, but several relatives of people killed in the attacks criticised Saudi Arabia and past US leaders. Terry Strada, whose husband Tom Strada died in the Twin Towers, accused Riyadh of complicity and said administrations had protected the Saudis instead of standing with 9/11 families.

Democratic New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani attended the Ground Zero event despite a campaign urging him to stay away. The campaign was led by the New York Post and former mayor Rudy Giuliani, and a petition accused Mamdani of associating with unspecified people described as insufficiently critical of extremist ideologies.

Nineteen Al-Qaeda operatives hijacked four airliners on September 11, 2001. Two planes hit the World Trade Center, one hit the Pentagon and a fourth crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after passengers fought back. A total of 2,977 people were killed.

Al-Qaeda also released a video for the anniversary showing images of Osama bin Laden and his son Hamza bin Laden, who Trump said in 2019 had been killed.