Four Former Presidents Stood at Ground Zero. Trump Went to the Pentagon and Tied 9/11 to the War With Iran.

The United States marked 25 years since the September 11 attacks on Friday with a split-screen commemoration: every living former president gathered at the World Trade Center site in New York while President Donald Trump, a native New Yorker, chose instead to speak at the Pentagon, where he cast the anniversary as a reason for the country's current war with Iran.

The ceremony at Ground Zero began at 8:40 a.m. ET with the reading of the names of the nearly 3,000 people killed in 2001. George W. Bush and Laura Bush, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Barack and Michelle Obama, and Joe and Jill Biden were all in attendance, along with Vice President JD Vance, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, Mayor Zohran Mamdani and former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. Cellist Yo-Yo Ma performed Bach's Cello Suite No. 2 between readings. Trump skipped the New York event because, since 2012, the annual ceremony has barred politicians from speaking.

For the first time the ceremony observed seven moments of silence rather than six. The traditional six mark the moments the planes struck the North Tower, the South Tower and the Pentagon, the crash of Flight 93 near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and the collapse of each tower. The seventh, at roughly 12:52 p.m., was added this year for the people who have died since from illnesses tied to the attacks. Roughly 6,000 first responders and survivors have died of 9/11-related disease, according to CBS News, and the Victim Compensation Fund has received more than 112,000 claims and paid out over $18 billion. The FDNY added 36 names to its own memorial wall this year, all firefighters who died of those illnesses.

At the Pentagon, where 125 people inside the building and 59 passengers and crew aboard American Airlines Flight 77 were killed, Trump spoke alongside first lady Melania Trump, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. "We will never, ever forget. That's why we fight today," the president said, before turning to the ongoing conflict with Tehran. "The Islamic Republic of Iran will never, ever have a nuclear weapon." He paid tribute to the "beautiful souls ripped from our world" and paraphrased Flight 93 passenger Todd Beamer's "Let's roll" before the wreath-laying at 10:25 a.m. Hegseth was blunter still, telling the crowd, "We're still sending terrorists where they belong, to hell." Rice, who was national security adviser in 2001, offered a rarer note of contrition: "Those of us in authority on that day did not see the danger in time to prevent the attack."

The Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville held its own ceremony at 1 p.m., where Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum spoke and the 40 passengers and crew were honored. Shapiro noted that roughly 100 million Americans alive today were not yet born when the attacks happened.

Family members used the New York podium to press their own messages. Terry Strada, whose husband Tom died in the North Tower and who has led the fight to hold Saudi Arabia accountable in court, addressed the administration directly: "Tell them that if they want to be friends with the USA they cannot continue to deny all of this." Michael Massaroli Jr., whose father was killed, asked those who invoke the day politically to "please stop" using it "to spread hate," warning against targeting Muslim Americans. Mamdani, the city's first Muslim mayor, called it a day of "immeasurable loss" and urged New Yorkers to "build a city worthy of their courage." Asked about shaking hands with Giuliani, he said: "We both extended our hands. The focus for all of us is on families, first responders."

The security posture in Lower Manhattan was, in the NYPD's words, "massive," with counter-drone units and heavy-weapons teams deployed and street closures across the district. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin offered a sobering assessment of the threat a quarter-century on: "It's probably not a matter of if, it's more a matter of when, something happens again." In London, MI5 Director General Ken McCallum used the anniversary to warn that intelligence agencies must accept "a new strategic shock" could already be in preparation.

The men accused of planning the attacks, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, have still not been tried. After a military judge threw out Mohammed's confession last month over CIA coercion, jury selection at Guantanamo Bay is now scheduled for June 5, 2028, nearly 27 years after the towers fell.