{"id":223979,"date":"2026-09-13T00:32:40","date_gmt":"2026-09-13T00:32:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/trump-and-hegseth-use-9-11-memorial-remarks-at-pentagon-to-defend-war-on-iran-theguardian-com\/"},"modified":"2026-09-13T00:32:40","modified_gmt":"2026-09-13T00:32:40","slug":"trump-and-hegseth-use-9-11-memorial-remarks-at-pentagon-to-defend-war-on-iran-theguardian-com","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/trump-and-hegseth-use-9-11-memorial-remarks-at-pentagon-to-defend-war-on-iran-theguardian-com\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump and Hegseth use 9\/11 memorial remarks at Pentagon to defend war on Iran – theguardian.com"},"content":{"rendered":"

President and defense secretary try to link worst terrorist attack in US history to current unpopular war
US politics live \u2013 latest updates<\/a>
Donald Trump<\/a> and Pete Hegseth<\/a> used remarks at the memorial ceremony marking the 25th anniversary of 9\/11 to defend the US-Israel war on Iran<\/a> \u2013 and suggest the controversial conflict was part of the legacy of the worst terrorist attack in US history.
While such ceremonies on September 11 typically focus on the victims of the 2001 attacks, the US president and his defense secretary each pointed to the war they launched on Iran<\/a> more than six months ago, with no end in sight.
\u201cWe salute every member of the United States military who served in the \u2018war on terror\u2019,\u201d Trump said at the Pentagon, which was struck by a hijacked airliner, killing all 64 people onboard and 125 inside the building. \u201cAnd we salute the service members working right now to ensure the world\u2019s number one sponsor of terror, the Islamic Republic of Iran, will never ever have a nuclear weapon.\u201d
The US president\u2019s decision to stay in Washington has drawn criticism, while his vice\u2011president, JD Vance, traveled to New York for a memorial at Ground Zero, the site of the World Trade Center\u2019s destruction on 9\/11.
Closing out his speech, Trump also tried to draw a direct link between his war on Iran \u2013 which is vastly unpopular in the US, according to opinion polls \u2013 and the 9\/11 terror attacks.
\u201cToday we renew the sacred oath that we first swore in their names a quarter of a century ago. We will never, ever forget,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s why we fight today. We don\u2019t have a choice. There can only be victory. We fight hard. We fight to win.\u201d
Earlier, Hegseth, the US defense secretary, delivered a bellicose speech at the somber memorial. Noting that the Iran war was part of the fight against an \u201cIslamic theocracy that has wished us death for nearly half a century\u201d, he claimed that Iran\u2019s defenses \u201care gone\u201d, despite evidence to the contrary.
\u201cWe\u2019re still sending terrorists where they belong \u2013 to hell,\u201d declared Hegseth. \u201cAnd tankers to the bottom of the ocean where they belong, and we are ensuring that Iran will never have a nuclear weapon. The economic pressure tightens every day.\u201d
Hegseth said at the ceremony: \u201cThe struggle against evil continued, and it continues now. It will continue until judgment day. Our only answer here on Earth is eternal vigilance.\u201d
He also claimed the threat extended into US borders, warning that \u201cenemies plot to curb our power and kill our citizens, including from Islamic terrorists abroad and at home\u201d.
Hegseth went on to credit Trump with dismantling Iran\u2019s military capabilities, and closed by calling for a new generation of \u201cstrong, brave warriors who will say when it matters most, \u2018send me\u2019\u201d.
Separately, during the New York City ceremony, the leader of one group of 9\/11 victims\u2019 families pleaded with the Trump administration<\/a> to hold Saudi Arabia accountable for its alleged support of the terrorists who carried out the attacks.
\u201cIt has been one betrayal after another. President Trump can still change that,\u201d said Terry Strada, a widow of one of the victims. \u201cTell 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 \u2013 all of the pain, all of the destruction that we have all been suffering through.\u201d<\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President and defense secretary try to link worst terrorist attack in US history to current unpopular warUS politics live \u2013 latest updatesDonald Trump and Pete Hegseth used remarks at the memorial ceremony marking the 25th anniversary of 9\/11 to defend the US-Israel war on Iran \u2013 and suggest the controversial conflict was part of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":223980,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-223979","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-us","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=223979"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223979\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/223980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=223979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=223979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}